Fairest of Them All
by Ultimate Queen of Cliffies
Summary: "No," said Elphaba fiercely. "We are not putting Glinda and Nessarose in danger like that. I'd much rather participate in the stupid beauty pageant myself." Oscar suddenly sat up, his eyes shining. "Now there's an idea…" Basically Miss Congeniality – the Wicked version. AU. Fiyeraba. Tied 1st place Best General and 2nd place Best AU and Most Humorous in the 2016 Greg Awards.
1. Under the Surface

**Here it finally is! Those of you who follow me on Twitter know I have incorporated a bunch of readers in this fic as _Miss Emerald_ beauty pageant contestants. A list of who is who can be found in the AN at the bottom. Also, thanks to Humole for helping me with the cover picture, which is Danna Paola, the Mexican Elphaba I've used before.**

 **I don't usually ask you to bear with me on something, but I have to now: can we all en masse pretend there is TV in Oz? I've tried to make this work with only live performances or with magical projections, but TV just worked best, so yes - bear with me on this.**

 **Let the competition begin!**

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 **1\. Under the Surface**

"So let me get this straight." Elphaba Thropp leaned across the table, meeting the gaze of the man sitting across from her. "One of your opponents has made a threat against several important families in Ozian society – including my own family and the family of my best friend?"

Oscar Diggs nodded, watching his daughter as she began to pace up and down the room. "Yes," he said. "My security department takes this very seriously because of the details these letters provide. There are always people who are unhappy with certain important families in Oz, but usually, there does not seem to be an actual threat. This person, however, mentions names – Tenmeadows, Upland, Minkos, Thropp – and that is not all. He mentions a specific time and place, too, for the threat – a bomb threat – to be carried out."

"Which is?"

"The finale of the _Miss Emerald_ beauty pageant in the Emerald City," said Oscar.

Elphaba stopped pacing to stare at him. "You're joking, right?"

He had to smile a little at her horrified expression. "No. Daughters of most of these families are participating in this beauty pageant and their families will be there for the competition," he explained. "My security department is fairly certain that this is when whoever is making this bomb threat will strike. Of course, security will be tightened now that we know about this, but it will be a tricky situation nonetheless. This person doesn't even make any demands – he just want to see the rich and influential families suffer and deliver a blow to my government… no pun intended."

Elphaba snorted a short laugh.

"It's like he's taking some kind of twisted joy in informing us about his plans so he can laugh at us if we fail to prevent them from happening," Oscar continued, looking troubled. "He certainly seems very confident that his bomb threat will be carried out, even if we take measures to prevent that from happening."

Elphaba watched him as he started pacing back and forth across the room, continuing to talk.

"The first few shows of the competition will be recorded and they'll be on TV each Friday night; the final couple of shows will be broadcast live. All of Oz will be watching this event." Oscar smiled a little. "It's a brilliant invention, really - TV," he said. "It will be problematic, though, to say the least, if this time it means that all of Oz will be watching as dozens of people are killed at the event."

"Why don't you just cancel the whole thing?" the young witch asked, impatiently pushing some stray strands of raven hair out of her face. "The beauty pageant, I mean. Why risk it?"

Dr Dillamond, who had been quiet so far, now chuckled. "Don't let Miss Glinda or your sister hear you say that, Miss Elphaba."

Elphaba snorted again. "Yes, well, Glinda is a little bit delusional when it comes to beauty pageants. Crazy girl." She rolled her eyes fondly. "As for Nessa, she just really wants a chance to show people that she's more than just the girl in the wheelchair. Which I can relate to," she added. "Really. I've always been known as nothing more than the green girl, so I know how that feels. I'm just not willing to risk her safety over it."

"Unfortunately, that is not your call to make," said Oscar. "Warnings have been sent out to all the families mentioned in these letters, but only the Minkos family has decided to withdraw their daughter from the competition."

"Shenshen." Elphaba smirked at that. "She's going to be given a hard time by her other girlfriends for not being able to participate."

Dillamond frowned a little. "Your father did not pull your sister out, Miss Elphaba?"

Elphaba shook her head. "He didn't tell me about these threats," she admitted. "Neither did Nessa – she probably knew I would try to get her to pull out otherwise; but she wants to participate so badly, she probably convinced Frex to let her despite the threat. As for Glinda, that girl wouldn't let a thousand threats stop her from partaking in this silly contest."

"In any case," Oscar continued, "even if we were to cancel the pageant, that wouldn't solve anything – this opponent of mine would just find a different time and place to strike. We need to come up with a plan. We cannot allow this threat to be carried out. Ideally, we would find a way to discover who exactly is behind the letters before the date of the competition so we can apprehend him, but we hardly know anything about this person."

"Except for the fact that he must really hate beauty pageants," said Elphaba. "I can relate to that."

"Not to the point where you would threaten to kill people, I hope," Dr Dillamond said sternly and she gave him a look, but bit back a sarcastic retort. Despite everything, he still always acted like a teacher towards her, which somehow made all this feel more normal.

Sometimes she still couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that the Wizard of Oz was not only a normal man, as opposed to the Wonderful Wizard he was made out to be, but also her father; let alone the fact that he had changed his ways – for her – and that she and Dr Dillamond were now both working for him, although not many people knew that. She still went to Shiz and Dr Dillamond had gotten back his old post as History teacher there, but they were now occasionally visited by Oscar in order for them to help him with something. They mostly helped with cases involving Animals, for example when problems arose due to them being re-introduced into society – Elphaba suspected it was his way of trying to redeem himself to her, but she appreciated it.

Now, however, it seemed like they were going to have to play detective.

"There is one thing we know," Oscar said thoughtfully, "or think we know, anyway. I have put a lot of my people on the threat and according to them, it can be deduced that the person behind all this must be involved in the beauty pageant itself. He mentions information he can't possibly know otherwise."

"That does not tell us all that much," Dr Dillamond pointed out. "It could be anyone – a contestant, a judge, a family member – or even one of the people taking care of the candidates' hair, make-up, and clothing."

Oscar sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I know. But at least it is a lead."

"What do you want us to do?" Elphaba asked as she sat down in a chair opposite Oscar and started undoing her braid, which had loosened. "I'm sure you've come up with some semblance of a plan, at least."

"Not yet," he said, watching her as she combed her fingers through her long hair and then started braiding it again, tighter this time. "But I'll think of something. What we really need is for someone to be on the inside, undercover – someone who can listen in on conversations and try to discover who could be behind this."

"A spy," Elphaba summarised and Oscar grimaced.

"If you want to call it that."

"Oh, excuse me," she said mockingly, "would you prefer for me to call it a "scout" instead? Because _that_ makes all the difference in the world, right? Are you sure you don't want to make Chistery do this?"

He glared at her. "I thought we agreed to let that little incident slide."

"I'm not sure the Animals would agree with you that that incident was "little"," she snapped. "Neither would I."

Oscar sighed. "Elphaba, I've apologised a thousand times, changed all of my policies for you, involved you in the issues I deal with and even let you neutralise Madame Morrible's magic with that spell from the Grimmerie. I really don't know what else you want me to do to make it right. I've tried. I'm still trying."

"It's not about me," she corrected. "But you're right, you've done your best. You can't just expect us to _forget_ about it, though. I've been trying very hard to forgive you, but sometimes that is hard when I come across a newspaper article about a young Animal that has been so traumatised by your practices that it will never learn how to speak, or when I hear Dr Dillamond's stories about how he has been humiliated and abused by _your_ men."

She really was trying to let it go, but it was difficult for her. Even after all this time, she couldn't shake the image of Chistery sprouting wings and his screams still haunted her nightmares. The flying Monkey was now a respected member of the Wizard's staff and also a member of their little group, even though he was not present now – he was off helping some of his fellow Monkeys settle back in their old homes – but Elphaba still felt guilty for what she'd done to him, however unintentional.

Oscar had done his best to earn her trust. He had allowed her to cast a spell from the Grimmerie that would take away Morrible's powers, so she would no longer pose a threat to Oz. He'd also had Morrible degraded to a regular teacher, rather than the Headshiztress she used to be. This was one of the main reasons why Elphaba had slowly begun to trust her father, but she also found that the past was not so easily forgotten.

Elphaba had visited Oscar a couple of times since that fateful day she'd met him in the Emerald City with Glinda and they had discovered that he was her father. Ever since, he had been trying to mend their relationship. He and Elphaba talked a lot, about everything, and the Wizard undid everything he had done to the Animals, trying to help re-instate them in society and offering them an official, public apology. Elphaba helped him with all this and eventually, tentatively, he had suggested publicly announcing their relationship.

It took him a lot of convincing to get her to agree. She was worried about Frex's response, convinced he'd kick her out of the house and cut off her tuition for Shiz and her access to Nessa. She was also worried about the people's reaction to a green-skinned princess who wasn't very ladylike at all and she had no interest in appearing in the public picture. She eventually agreed under the condition that she would get to finish her education at Shiz and she would not have any responsibilities in the near future.

Her predictions about Frex's reaction, however, turned out to be right. He told her he wanted her out of the house and that he would no longer be paying her tuition for Shiz University. Oscar, however, had by then already offered to pay the tuition for her, given the fact that he was her biological father and he wanted to actually be a father to her. He had intervened and convinced Frex to allow Elphaba and Nessarose to continue seeing one another whenever they liked; after that, Frex had packed Elphaba's things and shipped them to the Emerald Palace, where she would be going home to twice a year from now on. That would definitely be something to get used to. She was still debating going home with one of her friends instead for Lurlinemas – she just couldn't see herself sitting in the Palace, making nice with a father she didn't even really know, for two weeks.

So, yes. Despite everything, she still had a hard time forgiving her father for what he had done.

Dr Dillamond placed one hoof on the green girl's shoulder. "Miss Elphaba, I appreciate your concern for us," he said. "We all do. But this is your biological father. You should at least try to get along with him."

"We are getting along," she said. "Don't fathers and daughters fight all the time?"

Dr Dillamond gave her a look and Elphaba grumbled and crossed her arms, slumping a bit more in her chair, but she didn't say anything else. She knew Dr Dillamond was right – as he usually was. She was always torn between wanting to hate Oscar for what he'd done and wanting to let him in and let him be the father she had never really had. She already didn't have a mother anymore and the only father she'd ever known had never cared about her. She didn't _really_ want to blow her chances at a father-daughter relationship with Oscar. It was the only relationship with a parent she'd ever have.

She noticed Oscar was still looking at her and she sighed. "Fine," she said. "I'll try to let it go, _Dad_. Continue – you were saying something about a spy."

"Yes." He kept his eyes on her as he continued talking. "I'm just not entirely sure how we could accomplish such a thing."

"Someone on the inside, you mean?" Elphaba shrugged. "Easy enough. Just get some security guard of yours to pose as a make-up expert or whatever and he can report back to us."

"Those people can't go everywhere, though," Dr Dillamond pointed out, "and their roles in the competition are relatively small, considering the big picture. They won't always have to be present during the recording sessions and events and they aren't even allowed at some of the smaller events hosted for participants only. It would be difficult for such a person to spy on everyone." He tilted his head a little to the side. "Of course, we could inform your sister or Miss Glinda of our plan and she could keep an eye out for us… they are both contestants, after all. They will attend everything and be allowed everywhere..."

"No," said Elphaba fiercely. "We are notputting them in danger like that. I'd much rather do it myself."

Oscar suddenly sat up, his eyes shining. "Now there's an idea…"

"What?" Elphaba stared at him, then realised what he meant. " _What_?! Oh, no. No way. I didn't mean I wanted to – oh, come on, don't look at me like that!" She threw her hands up into the air. "I can't be a spy, I'm the only green girl in all of Oz! I stand out more than anyone and they already know I'm your daughter!"

"No-one knows that you're _working_ for me, though," Oscar said. "Since Miss Minkos dropped out of the competition, it won't be too hard to get you in as a contestant from the Emerald City. They'll just think the princess of Oz is finally appearing in public some more. No-one will suspect that you are spying for me."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're really set on doing this, aren't you?"

"It's a good idea, but you'd need a lot of work," Dr Dillamond said thoughtfully. "No offence, Miss Elphaba – you know how fond I am of you, but you are not exactly the picture of a respected young lady from a wealthy family."

"Because I'm not a lady!" Elphaba leapt to her feet again, locking her eyes with her father's. "You can't be serious. Please don't make me do this."

"Elphaba," he said gently. "No-one is going to make you do anything."

"If you want to help discover who is behind these threats, though," Dr Dillamond said casually, "then this would be our best shot."

Elphaba groaned. "I can't pull this off! I'm terrible at everything girly!"

The Goat smiled. "I think your roommate could teach you quite a bit about those things, Miss Elphaba."

"Of course," Oscar agreed. "We can tell Glinda about all this and she can help you – perhaps your sister can help, too."

Elphaba was shaking her head. "I could never do this. I don't _want_ to do this. Can you see me parading around in revealing dresses covered in frills and sequins? And besides, no-one would believe I got into the competition in the first place. In case you forgot, I'm the Artichoke. Frog Girl. Everyone hates me and everyone thinks I'm ugly. Princess or not, they'd consider it a big joke!"

"Miss Elphaba," Dr Dillamond said firmly. "You are not ugly and not everyone hates you. Your fellow students are merely a little small-minded."

She snorted in agreement.

"But," he continued with a warm smile, "I can't think of anyone more deserving of the title of Miss Emerald than you are."

She glanced down at her skin and then scowled at the Goat, even though she could tell from his smile that he had actually meant it as a compliment and there was no underlying sarcasm. It reminded her of the time in her first year of Shiz when he had given her that same smile as he spoke about Oz becoming less colourful. Sometimes she thought that without her even realising it, Dr Dillamond had been the first person to not care about her skin and see her for who she was inside.

"You don't have to do it," Oscar said to her, now rising as well. She suddenly noticed the tired look in his eyes. "But it would be immensely helpful in solving this situation if you did."

The dark-haired witch laid her head back and closed her eyes for a moment. "Sure," she grumbled. "Guilt-trip me."

"So you'll do it?" Dr Dillamond asked. Oscar was looking at her expectantly and really, if this was the best chance they had at catching the person who was threatening her sister and her best friend, then how could she possibly refuse?

"Fine," she said. "I'll do it. But we're going to need a plan."

Her father grinned widely at her. "Don't worry, Elphaba. I'm on it."

* * *

 **The contestants:**

 **Emerald City:  
Elphaba Thropp  
Nathalinia Hearst (Fae'sFlower)**

 **Gillikin:  
Glinda Upland  
Lunare Kaiara (xXStefyXx)  
**

 **Glikkus:  
Umbia Zespri (humole)  
Caila Westin (HC247)**

 **Munchkinland:  
Nessarose Thropp  
Macy Lezwis (Ultimate Queen of Cliffies - I couldn't think of a name, so I took inspiration from John Travolta's major mispronunciation of Idina Menzel's name and used a "Travoltafy Your Name" generator to come up with this. :P)**

 **Quadling Country:  
Karise Fennows (Moreanswers24)  
Micaela Kaunis (PocketSevens)**

 **Vinkus:  
Faye Alis (DorothyThropp)  
Saraphina Bulok (VinkunEmeralds)**

 **The process of the competition will be explained in the story itself. :)**


	2. Behind the Scenes

**Sorry it's late; I've got a lot of stuff to do and I don't have very many pre-written chapter for this one, so updates will be a bit irregular. Sorry in advance! That being said, thanks for all your reviews and here is the next chapter. :)**

* * *

 **2\. Behind the Scenes**

Upon Elphaba and Glinda's return from the Emerald City, now a little over six months ago, things had changed drastically. She'd suddenly had all this new information to deal with and it had been hard on her. Not just processing everything she had learned about the Wizard not being nearly as wonderful as she'd always thought he was and attempting to forgive him for everything he'd done; but also dealing with the knowledge that he was her biological father. She'd been utterly confused. Should she tell Frex? Nessa? Should she try to fight the Wizard or work with him? Did she want a relationship with him and if so, what kind of relationship? What in Oz was she supposed to do now?

The only people she'd told the truth about everything almost instantly were Nessarose, Fiyero, and Boq – Glinda, of course, already knew what had happened, since she had been with Elphaba on the trip. The green girl had talked about it with Nessarose, who advised her reluctantly to not tell Frexspar about this. Elphaba had agreed. This new information would not improve their relationship. He might even throw her out of the house and she didn't want that, especially since it would mean she'd have limited access to Nessa once they would graduate from Shiz – if she could even finish Shiz, because Frex would most likely stop paying her tuition, too. Thankfully that situation had been solved in the end, but back then she'd been determined to keep her newly regained knowledge about her parentage hidden from him.

On top of all that, everyone at Shiz seemed to be acting strangely as well. Nessa was still having a hard time accepting that her sister was actually her half-sister and had been acting a little awkward around Elphaba. Glinda kept shooting Elphaba sympathetic glances and asking her if she was okay, telling her roommate that she was there for her if she needed to talk. Boq just seemed to be completely in awe of the fact that Elphaba was, in fact, the Wizard's daughter and thus the princess of Oz – he now started to stammer and stutter around her the way he always used to do around Glinda, which was extremely annoying.

As for Fiyero... well, he'd come to pick them up from the train station the day they had returned, acting just as strangely as he had when they'd left. He brushed Glinda off with a quick kiss to the cheek and a "Hi, Glin" before hugging Elphaba – much to her discomfort – and handing her another bouquet of poppies. Glinda had confronted him about his behaviour that same night and they had broken up, although they had agreed to remain friends. Elphaba still didn't know what to make of that whole situation, but had decided she probably didn't even want to know, ignoring the small part of her that was relieved at Fiyero and Glinda's break-up.

Ever since then, Fiyero had been acting a little strange, too – such as right now. She was studying for their impending midterms (the fact that she was apparently participating in a stupid beauty pageant did not change anything about her resolve to try her hardest in school) and he was watching her. She was trying very hard to ignore him, but it was like she could feel his bright blue eyes burning a hole in the side of her head and she finally looked up. "Seriously, Tiggular, what is your problem?"

He blinked. "Huh? Problem? I don't have a problem."

She gritted her teeth. "Then _stop watching me_."

"Oh." He flushed, which confused her a little. "Sorry."

She kept staring at him pointedly until he lowered his gaze, his fingers playing with a pencil. She felt like lately, since not too long before she and Glinda had left for the Emerald City, the atmosphere between her and Fiyero had changed and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing. For the past year or so, she'd really liked being friends with him. It was nice to not only have Nessa and Glinda to confide in; no matter how wonderful they were and how much she loved the very first friend she'd ever had, Fiyero often viewed things in a different way she found refreshing – not to mention he never squealed or giggled, which was definitely a plus.

On the other hand, however, she often felt awkward around him, like when he kept staring at her or touched her just a little too long. She also felt like she couldn't read him anymore. He'd been an open book to her in the beginning – spoilt playboy prince pretending to be self-absorbed and shallow when really, he was just unhappy – but now she often had no idea what he was thinking or feeling and it drove her mad, especially since she had always prided herself on her ability to see right through other people.

"Fabala?"

Shaken from her thoughts, Elphaba looked up to see her younger sister approaching, her chair being pushed by Glinda. The blonde was wearing her school uniform, but it was so covered in sequins that she nearly blinded everyone around her – knowing Glinda, she'd probably deemed her regular school uniform too boring all of a sudden and decided to make it look "prettier". Nessa, in comparison, looked demurely elegant in her own dark blue and white uniform, her hair pulled back with a headband as usual.

"Glinda," said Fiyero, blinking furiously and squinting against the light reflected by the sequins. "What in Oz...?"

"Do you like it?" the petite girl gushed, twirling so that everyone could admire her new attire from all angles. "I was just looking at my uniform the other day and I was thinking that it's so incredibly _boring_ , so I sent it to that dress shop in town to make some changes. I offered to have Nessa's done, too, to give her some extra flash – especially with the _Miss Emerald_ elections coming up – but she said it's not really her thing."

Elphaba exchanged a look with her sister behind Glinda's back. Nessa grimaced and Elphaba had to bite back a laugh. She couldn't imagine pristine, modest Nessarose wheeling across campus all sparkly and glittery.

"I'd offer to have Elphie's done," Glinda continued, "but I'm not even going to bother."

Elphaba patted her on the back. "Look at that. She can be taught."

"Speaking of Elphie and fashion," her roommate continued without so much as pausing to breathe, "I need to talk to you. Preferably now."

Elphaba looked at Nessa, who shrugged; and then at Fiyero, who also didn't seem to know what this was about. "Um... okay?"

She let Glinda pull her into the hallway and then into the girls' bathroom, where she waited until the two girls working on their make-up in front of the mirror had left before starting to talk. "Elphie, Dr Dillamond told me about your meeting and your plans regarding the _Miss Emerald_ competition," she said.

Elphaba groaned. "Right."

"Are you sure about this?"

"No." The young witch tiredly rubbed her forehead. "But I have to. I hate this whole thing already, but these threats are serious, Glin, and if I can help protect you and Nessa and those other girls this way, I will."

"I know." Glinda sighed. "Oh, Elphie, it's just that... and I don't mean this in a mean way, but... a beauty pageant? You? Are you really sure about that? They're going to tear you to pieces, Elphaba."

Elphaba huffed. "You're always saying I shouldn't listen to what everyone says and that I'm 'beautiful in my own way'." She used her fingers as quote marks, obviously not believing a word of it, even though Glinda had indeed been trying to tell her roommate that ever since they had become friends.

"I know. And you are." Glinda looked troubled. "It's just that other people can't seem to see that. I do think you're beautiful, Elphie – you know, more so if you'd get rid of the glasses and the braid and the horrible black frocks, but that's beside the point. All those other girls aren't going to be nice to you and the press... I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay, let me get a few things straight," said Elphaba sternly, locking her eyes with Glinda's. "First and foremost, I'd gladly take a billion insults if it means I can somehow keep you and Nessa from getting hurt. And second," she added, "it's not like I'm not used to people hating me and letting me know very explicitly that they do. I don't care about them. I'm just going to focus on this mission and I can take whatever they throw at me."

Glinda opened her mouth, but the green girl cut her off. "I know what you're going to say and I won't deny that the things people say about me bother me, Glin. I won't deny that it hurts, because I know you know me better than that. But I have you, I have Fiyero, Nessa, and even Boq; and now Oscar, Dr Dillamond, and Chistery, too... I can handle insults from a bunch of ignorant Ozians. Really. If only because, if they're so interested in an Oz-damned _beauty pageant_ , they're obviously not intelligent enough for me to even care about their opinion."

Glinda crossed her arms and tapped her foot and Elphaba grinned at her. "With some rare exceptions, of course."

"Why, thank you, Elphie," the shorter girl said with an indignant little snort. She instantly became bright and sunny again, however. "According to what Dr Dillamond told me, though, I'm supposed to teach you how to be a lady, right?"

"Along with Dr Dillamond himself plus Nessa and Oscar, yes," Elphaba confirmed, slightly wary. "Oscar thought that between all of you, you could make me good enough at it to pull this off. Obviously he can't be here all the time, but he's going to check up on us a couple of times to help. I'm going to get through these midterms first and after that, we still have a week until the start of the competition, so we should be able to –"

" _A week_?!" Glinda shrieked, causing Elphaba to wince and cover her ears. "Oh my Oz, Elphie, a week is not nearly enough!"

"I'm sure you can do it," the dark-haired witch told her friend. "You're a miracle-worker when it comes to these things."

Glinda beamed. "I am, aren't I? All right then, very well. I'll let you do your midterms, do some prepping, and then we'll start straight after you're done with your final test – because let's face it, Elphie, you've got an awfully long way to go."

* * *

"You know," Nessarose commented that night at the dinner table, after Elphaba had told her friends about the plan Oscar and Dr Dillamond had come up with, "sometimes it's still hard for me to believe that my sister is actually a princess."

Elphaba cringed. "Please don't say that," she begged. "I'm not. I'm Oscar's daughter, sure, but that's it. It's not like I'm ever going to rule Oz or something!"

Glinda smirked a little and patted her roommate's arm. "Keep telling yourself that, Elphie." She took a bit of salad and sighed. "But yes, Nessa, I know what you mean. I mean, when I just met her and Morrible suggested to her that she could have a career in sorcery, Elphie was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush – going all dreamy-eyed whenever the Wizard was mentioned, humming under her breath..."

"Excuse me!" Elphaba cried, feeling her face heat up. "I did _not_ act like a schoolgirl with a crush, thank you very much!"

"Oh, but you kind of did, Fabala," Nessa said, giggling as well now. "You were so eager to meet him!"

"And now here we are," Glinda continued, impaling another leaf of lettuce on her fork and waving it around, "a year and a half later; and Morrible is now a regular, magic-less teacher, all the Animal Banns have been turned around, and our dearest Elphie here turns out to be the princess of Oz, daughter to the Not-Quite-So-Wonderful Wizard, and she's working for him. Who would have thought?"

"There are a lot of things none of us would have seen coming," Fiyero noted. "Most of those things weren't as big as Elphaba turning out to be a princess, but still. I mean, who would have thought that Boq would actually fall in love with Nessa or that Glin and I would break up?"

" _You_ would have thought the latter, obviously," Glinda muttered, huffing, "or you wouldn't have broken up with me at all."

Fiyero sighed impatiently. "Oh, come on, Glin. Why would we have stayed together? "We're both perfect" is not a good foundation for a relationship and you know that, too, deep down. It was based on nothing."

Glinda huffed again. "Well, I don't care. I'll find myself someone who is a thousand times better than you during the beauty pageant and you're going to be begging me to take you back, but I won't do it and you're going to end up heart-broken and crying yourself to sleep every night because you let the most perfect girl in Oz go." She tossed her hair over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes when she noticed that everyone around her was stifling laughter. "What?"

"Nothing, Glin," said Elphaba with a straight face. "You're completely right."

Nessa was giggling a little and Glinda threw her napkin at the younger girl. "Don't laugh at me!"

"I would never!" Nessa protested, still giggling.

"Anyway," Fiyero continued, "my point is that life never really seems to go the way you expect it to. You can come up with a thousand possible things that might happen and whatever _really_ happens is usually a scenario you didn't even think of."

Elphaba, having always tried to think out every possible scenario in every situation, could only agree with that and Glinda said in wonder, "That's actually a pretty smart thing to say, Fiyero."

This time, it was Fiyero throwing his napkin and Glinda was at the receiving end of it.

Boq, meanwhile, had taken Nessa's hand and they were smiling at each other. "I was wondering about something," he said to her. "Am I going to be allowed to be there with you during the big events?"

"Most of the time," Elphaba answered for her sister. "We have to spend a day or two in the Emerald City most weekends in order to attend some kind of event – a public presentation or some fancy social gathering – that will be recorded. A compilation of that event will then be broadcast on TV on Friday night so the people can see how we act in certain situations. There will be interviews, parties, an intelligence test, and all kinds of other things. The girls will be judged by how they look, how they've performed, how they handle the press, and how likeable they are – the public can vote for their favourites. That in itself is a reason why it will be completely unrealistic for me to make it to the finale," she added, "because who in Oz is going to vote for the asparagus? But that's beside the point."

"Elphie," Glinda scolded her. Fiyero was frowning unhappily.

Elphaba ignored them both. "In any case, that's how it goes the first few rounds, but the public's votes aren't shown until the second-to-last round, when half the girls are eliminated at the beginning of the show. The final two rounds will be huge events that can be attended by every Ozian who can get tickets before they are sold out and they will be live on TV for everyone to see. The finale is a really big deal, apparently – it's in the centre of the City itself and all former contestants and their families will be there, along with a lot of press, an official panel of judges, and even many high officials – tickets have already been reserved for them. That's probably why it was chosen as the place and time for the attack, since many important people will be gathered in one spot." She had memorised all the information Oscar had given her the other day.

"So Oscar is making sure you make it to the finale so that you can keep an eye on things," Nessa concluded and Elphaba nodded.

"If that is even necessary," she said. "If I find out who's behind it sooner, all the better – I could just retreat from the competition and it'd be over. Honestly, I hope I'll find the culprit as soon as possible. I'm not looking forward to any of this."

"I think you made that clear by now," Glinda said drily, causing Nessarose to burst into giggles again.

Boq spoke up. "But if you find out whoever is behind this before the finale..."

"...I'll tell them I'm pulling out of the contest and I can continue my life," the green girl finished for him. "If not, I'll be keeping an eye out for anything suspicious during the finale from a vantage point no other guard of Oscar's will have – centre stage."

"It sounds like a good plan," said Boq appreciatively.

Fiyero, who had mostly been quiet throughout the conversation, was still looking unhappy. "Isn't that dangerous?" he demanded. "You're going to try to find a _terrorist_ by yourself! What if you get hurt? Or worse?"

"If I don't do it, a lot of other people will get hurt – or worse," she told him matter-of-factly. "Including Glinda and Nessa. Is that what you want?"

"Wait a clock-tick!" Glinda squealed, cutting off any reply Fiyero might have been about to give. "That's not fair! Your father is controlling the pageant? Then how will it be fair? It has to be fair or winning won't give me any satisfaction!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes – along with Boq and Fiyero. "He's only controlling how far _I_ come," she corrected her blonde friend. "The other girls will be treated fairly – if you get enough votes, you'll get to the finale and you'll win."

"Oh." Glinda smiled. "All right, then."

Nessa crossed her arms in a silent challenge. "Who says you will win, anyway? Maybe someone else will win. Maybe _I_ will win."

"Who knows? You are tragically beautiful, after all," said Boq, somehow actually managing to make it sound like a compliment, and Nessa smiled at him.

"Or the Ozians will somehow fall in love with me and _I_ will win," Elphaba said, although her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Fiyero gave her a lopsided grin that made her heartbeat speed up. "I'd vote for you."

To hide her surprise and discomfort, she rolled her eyes at him. "Right. Anyway, I have to go. I have another midterm tomorrow and I need to study." She pushed away from the table and gave her friends a meaningful look. "So should you."

"Studying is boring," Glinda declared. "I'm going out with Shen and Milla tonight."

Elphaba shrugged and left. She was going to have a lot of work to do with this _Miss Emerald_ election, but she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. She'd have to work hard to ace her midterms first.

* * *

 **Mostly a chapter establishing where everyone is with regard to the original _Wicked_ storyline and what's going to happen. Still, reviews are very much appreciated! ^_^**


	3. Personality Dialysis

**I'm really sorry for the terribel update schedule lately. It's just that I'm in a bit of a weird place, emotionally - not necessarily bad, just weird - and I can't seem to get any writing done, and I'm somehow unemployed yet at least as busy as I was when I still had a job, so... sorry. Bear with me for a little while, I'm sure it'll be fine again soon.**

* * *

 **3\. Personality Dialysis**

"Munchkinland – Nessarose Thropp and Macy Lezwis. Quadling Country – Karise Fennows and... and... Oz dammit, it was something with an M..." Elphaba chewed the back of her pencil, racking her brain and feeling frustrated at being unable to come up with the name. She could learn entire text books by heart – surely she could remember which silly rich girls participated in this Oz-forsaken pageant!

"Micaela Kaunis," Glinda informed her roommate, never looking away from the mirror. She was applying her make-up. "Middle daughter of the Kaunis family, one of the richest families in the Quadlings. Her father is the mayor of Quadling City. And Karise's aunt is actually the Sorceress of the South. It's not just anyone participating in these pageants, Elphie. Many girls try, but don't make it through, such as poor Milla. She didn't get past the second selection round. Even Pfannee didn't make it to the top twelve!"

"The drama," Elphaba said sarcastically. She continued to study the list of contestants. "Ugh, this is horrid. I'm never going to learn all their names. They're all so fancy and complicated. What parents name their daughter Lunare?"

"As if 'Elphaba' is such an easy and commonplace name," Glinda sniffed.

Elphaba ignored her. "Or Saraphina? What's wrong with a simple name of two syllables at most?"

Glinda gasped dramatically. "Elphie! Saraphina Bulok is, like, the most beautiful girl in all the Vinkus! She was supposed to marry Fiyero!"

That caught Elphaba's interest. "Really?"

The blonde nodded vigorously. "Yes. Their parents made an agreement to have the two of them married, but only if they'd both agree. When Fiyero started partying and dating so many girls, Saraphina declared she didn't want him anymore and now she's almost engaged to Palu Pevens, you know, that geeky smart guy from the northern Vinkus? Apparently they're really in love."

"Aha." Elphaba yawned. "And this should interest me... why, exactly?"

"You're hopeless." Glinda shook her head before concentrating on her mascara again. "Anyway, Elphie, you really need to know all this background information if you're going to pull this off. Every other girl will have prepared herself and know exactly who she's up against. I bet by now most of the contestants know every small detail about the others, from the shampoo they use to their favourite flavours of ice cream and the name of their mother's aunt's great-grandfather."

Elphaba heaved a deep sigh. "In other words, I'm doomed."

Glinda giggled. "Of course not. We'll help you." Her face lit up. "Oh, I can quiz you, like you always do with me when we have a test! It'll be fun! Not to mention it'll be payback for the way you made me study for midterms." She smirked a little. "Okay, Elphie – who is the other contestant from the Emerald City?"

Elphaba squinted. "Nathi... um... Nathalinia, right? Nathalinia Hearst?"

"Very good! Family?"

Elphaba thought hard. She knew she'd studied this. "One older brother who is training to be Gale Force... father is Captain of the Guard, mother is some kind of important pretty society lady or whatever. Right?"

"Not "or whatever", Elphie. That's not ladylike. Age?"

"Twenty?"

"Not yet," Glinda corrected her. "Nineteen."

Elphaba scoffed. "Well, at least I know everything about you and Nessa. I guess I'll live."

Glinda shook her head. "Oh, Elphie... at least tell me you worked on your hair tossing skills?"

Elphaba sat up straight and shook her hair back with an exaggerated movement of her head. "Toss, toss."

Her roommate looked about to bury her face in her hands, but caught herself at the last moment, realising she'd smudge her make-up. "Oh, Oz, what are we going to do with you?"

"For the thousandth time," Elphaba said, "I'm not cut out for this. You're not going to do anything with me because this is going to end up a big disaster, anyway!"

Glinda tutted. "Well, it's too late to back out now, isn't it? Your father has already made the arrangements, after all."

"Fine. Then I guess we'd better keep practising." Elphaba tossed her hair over one shoulder and gathered it up in a messy ponytail. "Now, what was the name of that girl from Quadling Country again?"

Her roommate finally did bury her face in her hands and groaned.

* * *

"Stand up straight," Dr Dillamond instructed. He carefully placed a thick book on the top of Elphaba's head. It wobbled a little, but remained where it was and he stepped away with a satisfied nod. "Now try to walk as naturally as possible."

"There is a dictionary on my head and a pair of ridiculously high heels on my feet," the young witch said through gritted teeth, even as she tentatively took a step forward. "How is that supposed to be natural?"

The Goat smiled. "You'll make it work. Straighter, Miss Elphaba. Try to walk with a little more confidence. Not so stiff."

She straightened her back and held her head up high, taking a deep breath as she tried to focus on placing one high-heeled foot in front of the other, but that was more difficult than she'd have thought. Her ankles were protesting against the abuse and she didn't feel very stable, let alone elegant. "I'm not sure this is going to..." The book fell and she winced when it hit the ground, just missing her toes. "...work. And do we have to use a book for this?" she complained. "Books aren't meant to constantly be falling on the ground. This book abuse almost physically hurts my heart."

Nessarose, who was primly sitting in a corner, huffed a laugh. "Oh, Fabala, you can be so strange sometimes."

"Try again," Dr Dillamond encouraged the green girl and she sighed, bent over to pick up the dictionary, and placed it back on her head.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered, attempting to keep her balance as she gingerly walked across the classroom. "I still don't even know the _names_ of all the other participants, let alone their backgrounds. I can't toss my hair or walk in heels. My posture is horrible, my make-up skills non-existent, my skin still green, my hair still a bird's nest, and nothing about me is even remotely ladylike. I'm not going to fit in. I might as well paint a sign on my forehead saying " _WIZARD'S SPY TRYING TO FIND OUT WHO WANTS TO KILL PEOPLE_ ". Not to mention the horrible impression I'm going to make on the people as their princess."

Dr Dillamond shook his head. "You'll get there, Elphaba," he assured her. "Don't worry. You're already doing much better than before."

Nessa wheeled herself closer to her sister, smiling. "And Fabala, look – while you were ranting about this never going to work, you managed to walk all the way across the classroom in heels with the book still on your head. I told you that you could do it!"

Elphaba paused, realising the younger girl was right. She had barely even wobbled. Slowly, she turned around and started walking back, a small spark of hope taking hold of her. Maybe they would be able to make this work, after all.

Just as she thought that, the book thumped down onto the floor again and she sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Nope. Still doomed."

Her other lessons weren't going much better than that. With midterms finished, Lurlinemas break rolled around, which meant Nessarose and Boq travelled back to Munchkinland – and Fiyero to the Vinkus – to be with their families. For the sake of helping Elphaba prepare for the pageant, Glinda chose to stay at Shiz, as did Dr Dillamond.

The beauty pageant would officially start on the first day of the new year; by then, the others would meet them in the Emerald City to either participate in or witness the occasion. There would be a fancy dinner in one of the City's most expensive restaurants so that the candidates could get to know one another, followed by the recording of the contestants' presentation to the people the next day and the recording of individual interviews with each participant the day after that. Thankfully it would be over then and they'd be travelling back home on Sunday afternoon; a short version of the interviews would be published in the national newspaper, _The Ozian_ ,on Monday, and a compilation of the recordings would be broadcast the following Friday evening as the first episode of the TV show _Miss Emerald_.

During the week before the new year, Elphaba developed a daily schedule. Upon waking up, Glinda would quiz her roommate about the other contestants as the green girl prepared for the day. They then had breakfast together, during which the blonde tried to teach Elphaba to eat and sit like a lady. Elphaba would then move on to an empty classroom, where Dr Dillamond was waiting for her to give her some etiquette lessons – speak softly, sit up straight, walk elegantly, those kinds of things. She had insisted on having lunch time for herself, meaning she often ate in the library whilst poring over a book, after which she'd meet up with Oscar, who had taken a week off to come to Shiz, and Chistery. The Wizard always briefed her about the developments in the case regarding the threats, which was one of the only things about this whole schedule that she actually found interesting. Between the three of them, they tried to puzzle out a more concrete plan to try and bust the criminal – or criminals, since they weren't sure if there was only one of them or if more were involved. They didn't have a lot of luck with that, but at least it made her feel like she was also doing something useful amidst the beauty pageant preparations.

Late afternoon was reserved for beauty treatments. Elphaba hadn't even known so many beauty products existed until now, but of course Glinda knew all about them. She rubbed oils and creams into Elphaba's skin and hair, brushed the raven tresses until they shone, and tried out different styles of clothing, hair, and make-up on her roommate, trying to determine what looked best on her and which look would be most appropriate for which event relating to the beauty pageant. Oscar paid to get Elphaba a whole new wardrobe, exchanging her black frocks for colourful, fitted dresses with full skirts and her combat boots for ballet flats and low heels.

They often ate dinner together – Elphaba, Glinda, Oscar, Dr Dillamond, and Chistery – and they all "nagged her", as Elphaba called it, about her manners. After dinner, she'd retreat to her dorm room and she'd read for a bit until Glinda was ready for bed as well; then the blonde questioned her about the other contestants for another half hour again before the green girl was allowed to get some sleep. All in all, it was exhausting.

"I can't do this!" she cried to Chistery and Dr Dillamond at some point in utter frustration. She tore the fake flowers from her hair and tossed them onto a table, plonking down into a chair and slumping in it. "I'm not cut out for this. It's never going to work!"

"Of course it is," Chistery said comfortingly. "You're doing great so far."

Elphaba shook her head violently. "No, I'm not. Just _look_ at me! I look like a complete idiot!"

"Miss Elphaba," Dillamond said in mild exasperation. "It's just make-up. I know you're not a big fan of that – and neither am I, if I am completely honest – but I am sure you can make it work somehow."

She sighed through her nose. "What if I can't? What if I decide I'm through with this whole ridiculous business?"

He looked at her seriously over his spectacles. "Then the danger for your sister and Miss Glinda will continue to exist."

She blew out her breath in an annoyed huff. "All right. Fine. But only for them."

Dr Dillamond shared a knowing smile with Chistery.

Even aside from learning how to be a lady, there were other requirements she had to fulfil before being able to blend in with the other girls. Every contestant, for example, had to have some special skill to show the public, as well as a charity to represent for the sake of the show. Elphaba hadn't found it very hard to pick her charity – the Animal rehabilitation project Oscar had set up a little over half a year ago, after meeting with her. She'd already written some speeches for that and was planning a visit to one of the rehabilitation centres later on in the contest, even though she wouldn't have to actually arrange that until at least a few weeks from now. She hated having to present the project this way – like it was just something she was using to get in the people's good graces – but she also recognised that it was an opportunity for her to bring more attention to it and she wasn't going to turn that chance down. Besides, she'd have to pick a charity, anyway.

When it came to the skills, however, she was having a much harder time. Oscar and Dr Dillamond thought it better for her to conceal the fact that she possessed magical powers – if she could, anyway, since her magical outbursts were sometimes unexpected – and Glinda had firmly told her friend that no, sarcasm did _not_ count as a skill. Elphaba wondered if she could perhaps use her knowledge of politics to her advantage, but Glinda informed her that the people would mainly like to see her do something worthy of a lady, such as performing a dance or singing a song. Of course the dark-haired girl had laughed in Glinda's face at that, since they both knew she could neither dance nor sing. Thankfully they wouldn't have to present their skills until later on in the contest, either, so she still had some time to think about what hers could be.

By the time they travelled to the Emerald City, Elphaba was an exhausted wreck of nerves and Glinda was more than a little worried about her roommate, although not for the reasons one might think.

"Elphie," she said, concern clouding her blue eyes, "if you keep frowning like that, you're going to get lines in your face; and you really need to get some more sleep. There are dark circles under your eyes. Of course I can work miracles with some make-up, but you don't look healthy, Elphie."

"I don't _feel_ healthy," Elphaba grumbled. "And I _would_ get more sleep if you'd stop pestering me with questions about those silly bubbleheads participating in this stupid contest all night long!"

Glinda wisely decided to ignore that remark.

Upon arriving in the City, they settled in their hotel room first. Nessarose was already in the room, having journeyed to the City straight from Munchkinland with Boq, and she smiled at her sister. "Hi, Fabala. Did you have a good trip?"

"It was fine." The green girl yawned and Glinda urged her to take a nap. Dinner with the other girls wouldn't be until the next day, so they still had plenty of time to prepare themselves; while Elphaba slept and Nessarose napped as well, Glinda went on a shopping trip in the City to try and find the perfect dresses for her to wear to the dinner and for the recordings the two days after that. Since Boq had come with Nessa and Fiyero would be arriving that same day, too, they had all agreed to meet up at one of the cheaper restaurants the Emerald City had to offer for dinner.

Glinda was delighted with the boys' reaction to Elphaba once they saw her – Fiyero's jaw dropped, eyes wide; and Boq said, clearly impressed, "Wow."

"What?" Elphaba muttered grumpily, plonking down on her chair, which earned her a disapproving look from her best friend. "Are the circles under my eyes that bad?"

Boq shook his head. "No," he said. "You look... nice."

Fiyero snorted. "That's an understatement. She's _beautiful_ ," he stressed, which made Glinda giggle and Elphaba and Boq give him weird looks. "What? You are!" he defended himself. "I've never seen you dressed up like this before."

She realised that was true and she sighed. Glinda hadn't allowed her to bring any of the black frocks she still owned with her, meaning the young witch was now dressed in some of her new clothes: a form-fitting, dark blue dress that only just reached her knees and definitely made her uncomfortable, despite the tights she was wearing underneath. She was also wearing a pair of ballet flats, since they were the most comfortable shoes Glinda had bought her. The blonde had explained that from now on, image was everything and Elphaba would have to look nice always, regardless of the occasion. Reporters could show up at any given moment the green girl left Shiz University's campus and so she would have to look her best for the duration of the pageant, at least – and preferably after that as well, given the fact that she would now be known as the princess of Oz.

Unfortunately, that didn't just mean dresses and fancy shoes – it also meant make-up, which Glinda had applied carefully before they had left the hotel; no glasses, which left her unable to see anything other than blurry shapes when she tried to read, so one of her friends was going to have to read her the menu; and a fancy hairdo, in this case an elegant bun secured with some glittery hair clasps that matched the jewellery – yes, _jewellery_ – she was wearing. She hated every last bit of it, even though the look on Fiyero's face almost made it worth it. Almost.

"Thanks," she said with a sigh. "I'm not happy about it, though. Any of it. I wish it would be over already."

Glinda patted her friend's arm consolingly. "Oh, my poor Elphie. You wish it would be over?" She shook her head. "I'm afraid you're in for it, then, because you've only just begun."


	4. Unlike Anticipated

**I'm terribly sorry for the scandalacious delay in updates. The weird emotional mood plus all the stuff going on is now as good as over, so I'm going to try to stick to two- or three-daily updates from now on!**

 **Meet your (sometimes shallow and stuck-up) counterparts! :P**

* * *

 **4\. Unlike Anticipated**

They celebrated the start of the new year with just their little friend group, but then they all retreated to their respective rooms to get some rest. Each participant had received money to pay for her stay in the City, so they could all choose the hotel they wanted to stay in. Elphaba, Nessarose, and Glinda were staying in the _Lime Lodge_ , which was a nice hotel for a decent price. Fiyero had used his father's money to pay for his own room just across the hall, which he shared with Boq. This also meant that most of the participants had never met one another and would see each other for the first time at dinner on the first day of the new year.

They all awoke late on that day and didn't do much – Elphaba, Nessarose, and Glinda had to prepare for their dinner that night and Boq and Fiyero decided to do some sightseeing around the City. They were not allowed to attend the dinner along with the girls, since this was supposed to be just about the contestants, so they made plans to enjoy themselves in the City that night as well. The girls, meanwhile, met at _Sage_ for dinner, a fancy restaurant in the centre of the Emerald City, where they were greeted by Reven Bergeron and Cashel Moreau, the two bubbly hosts of the event.

"Welcome, welcome!" gushed Reven, kissing the air beside all of their faces. "Oh, you must be Nessarose, such a tragically beautiful little thing... and Glinda Upland of the Upper Uplands! It is an honour! And – Your Highness!" She curtseyed, but Elphaba laughed nervously and waved her away.

"Please don't," she said. She was probably supposed to sound coy, but it mostly came out irritated. "It's just Elphaba."

Reven beamed at her. "Welcome, then, Elphaba! We're so proud to have you representing us!"

"You can all come with me," said Cashel, who was a tall, lanky man with blonde hair and a blindingly white smile. "I will take you to the table. Some of the others have already arrived."

Indeed, once they got to the table, there were a couple of girls already talking to one another. A pale girl with long, wavy hair – was it Micaela? Faye? Yes, Faye – was talking animatedly to a blonde (Elphaba was fairly certain that was Saraphina Bulok, the one who had been engaged to Fiyero; and much to her dismay, she turned out to be every bit as beautiful as it was always said, although Elphaba could not say why that dismayed her). A pretty girl with caramel skin and dark hair sat a little to the side, watching the others. Elphaba couldn't remember what her name was. And if she already couldn't match the names with the faces, then how in Oz was she going to remember these girls' backgrounds?

"Take your seats!" Cashel sang and pointed them all to their seats. Elphaba, much to her annoyance, turned out to be seated next to a bubble-headed girl with chocolate brown hair who took one long look at her, sniffed, and turned away. Nessarose was next to the caramel-skinned girl. To Elphaba's right, the brunette had already started boasting to Saraphina about the riches and status of her family; Glinda sat on Saraphina's other side. On Elphaba's left was an empty seat for now, but soon the other girls started trickling in as well and the young witch took a deep breath. Here it was, then. No going back now.

A girl plopped into the empty seat soon enough and glanced at Elphaba, eyebrows raised. "Green? As a fashion statement?"

"I wish I'd thought of that!" a dark-skinned girl with long, black braids and full lips said enviously, leaning across the first girl to take a better look at Elphaba. "You also represent the City, then? I do, too! I'm Nathalinia," she introduced herself, shaking Elphaba's hand.

"Elphaba Thropp," the green girl said. "And it's not paint. I was born green." She wondered if these girls hadn't prepared themselves as well as Glinda had tried to make her believe they would. She felt a little relieved at the idea. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she'd first thought it would be.

"Weird," the first girl muttered, but Nathalinia nudged her arm.

"Be nice, Karise."

 _Karise Fennows, Quadling Country, niece to the Sorceress of the South_ , Elphaba rattled off in her head. She'd practised this. She knew all these girls.

Nathalinia suddenly gasped. "Oh. My. Oz. Aren't you the princess?"

Karise's mouth fell open and Elphaba grumbled. "Yes."

"That's amazing!" Nathalinia squealed. "Should we curtsey? Call you 'Your Highness'?"

"Please don't," Elphaba begged. Nathalinia nodded, but she was still beaming.

"Is it true that you dated Fiyero Tiggular?" someone asked a little down the table and Elphaba tried to catch Glinda's answer, but didn't hear it over the buzz of the other girls. She did, however, hear the dainty little huff Saraphina gave at that.

"Fiyero Tiggular is a swine," she declared. "Given his reputation, I can only be grateful that I was allowed to opt out of marrying him. I love Palu more than I ever could have loved Fiyero."

"You didn't even give him a chance," Elphaba pointed out irritably. "How can you say such things when you hardly even know him? Reputation isn't everything, you know."

A collective gasp went through the girls and Glinda shot her roommate a warning look. Elphaba itched to slap all these girls in the face and stomp out of the room, but she willed herself to keep her mouth shut and be quiet.

"Of _course_ reputation is everything," the brunette next to Elphaba sneered contemptuously. Many of the girls nodded in agreement. Elphaba just slumped in her chair and grumbled something under her breath. Nessarose, from across the table, was glaring intently at her sister and didn't stop doing so until Elphaba had straightened up again and plastered on a fake smile. Nessa gave her a small grin, which the green girl returned with a roll of her eyes.

"It's not just his reputation I based that on," Saraphina assured Elphaba. "I've known him since we were children. He wasn't so bad at first, but trust me when I say that ever since he became a teenager, _no-one_ would still want to marry Fiyero." She shuddered a little.

Elphaba wrinkled her nose. She supposed she could imagine that. Glinda was looking at her now and gave her an encouraging thumbs-up when she caught her best friend's gaze.

However, when a girl named Lunare from Gillikin declared that winning the _Miss Emerald_ beauty pageant would be the biggest thing she could ever dream to achieve and that it would give her life so much more meaning, Elphaba snorted loudly. Once again, the girls' heads whipped around to her and she muttered, "Sorry."

"You're not very ladylike, are you?" Karise asked in amusement. Nathalinia nudged her again to quiet her, but Karise merely cracked a grin at Elphaba. "I think I like you."

"Thanks," said Elphaba sarcastically. "That means so much to me. Now I can finally sleep at night."

Nathalinia giggled quietly. Karise was still grinning. Glinda and Nessa were shooting Elphaba warning looks from the other end of the table.

Cashel and Reven soon re-appeared to try and manage the girls, but they were doing a rather poor job at it. The only time they got the contestants' full attention was when they started explaining what would happen during the recordings the following two days and how things would proceed from then on.

"Tomorrow," Reven gushed, "we'll gather at the address you'll find on the card underneath your plates at ten o'clock sharp. Wear something nice, because you will be officially presented as a candidate of the _Miss Emerald_ competition to all of Oz! You'll have the afternoon off to spend some time sightseeing or preparing for the day after; because on Sunday, _Kiah Dersing_ is going to interview you! As you probably all know, Kiah is a very well-known interviewer and her opinion means everything, so you will all need to look your best! Our prep teams will be ready for you in the Emerald City Hall on Sunday morning. They will help you be the best version of yourself you can be. You will be interviewed one by one in alphabetical order, about ten minutes for each of you – remember, this is only an introductory interview. Once you manage to send home more of your competition, the people will also want to know more about you."

Cashel took over. "We start with the first girl, Faye Alis, at eleven o'clock sharp. You all have half an hour to get prepped and fifteen minutes in total to be interviewed, so Faye, you'll have to be present at half past ten at the latest. The next girl, Saraphina, will have to be there at eleven and her interview starts at half past eleven, etcetera. I will hand you all a scheme before you go tonight so you can see at what time you need to be present for prepping and at what time your interview is scheduled. After the interview, some pictures will be taken; aside from being on TV for all of Oz to see next Friday night, a short summary of the interviews and your pictures will also be published in _The Ozian_. You can wander around the City for a little bit after your interview and photos are done, but all of you will need to be back at five o'clock sharp for a group photo. Then you can go home."

"Great," Elphaba muttered, even as the other girls made excited noises.

"Oh, I'm going to be in the newspaper! And all of Oz will be able to watch us next Friday night!" Faye clasped her hands together, eyes shining. "This is going to be wonderful!"

Glinda was looking troubled, however, and she was not the only one. "Half an hour is not nearly enough to get prepped for a photo shoot!" she protested. "We need more time!"

"Ladies, ladies!" Reven held up her hands. "Not to worry! You can do most of the prepping at home already. Make sure your skin is moisturised and your hair washed and brushed. If you want, apply some basic make-up. Our prep teams are absolute experts in this area and they can turn you from pauper to princess in half an hour with hardly any effort involved."

Nessarose smiled. "I'm looking forward to the experience," she said politely.

"You hardly need any prepping, though," the caramel-skinned girl said a little shyly to Nessa. "You're so beautiful, you would even look wonderful without any preparations at all."

Nessa beamed. Although she got compliments about her looks all the time, they were usually accompanied by some comment about her chair; but this girl really seemed to mean it and Elphaba could tell how much that meant to her little sister. "Do you really think so?"

The girl nodded and Nessa's smile turned more genuine. "Thank you. Although I must say you look quite beautiful yourself," she added and the girl blushed.

"Thanks. I'm Umbia Zespri," she introduced herself to the wheelchair-bound girl. "I'm from the Glikkus."

"Nessarose Thropp from Munchkinland."

The rest of the conversation was drowned out for Elphaba because Reven and Cashel started talking again, trying to make themselves heard over the chattering of the girls. She was glad Nessa had made a friend, however.

"Of course," Cashel was saying – or, well, shouting – "we understand that once your identities known to the people, you will start to get swarmed by the press and we will protect you from that. In cooperation with His Ozness himself, as well as each of your schools or homes, we have arranged for security. No press will be allowed on the premises of your homes and the schools you go to."

Elphaba knew it wasn't just about the press. Even though the letters had threatened that an attack would come during the beauty pageant finale, the threats had been made specifically against some prominent families in Oz – families whose daughters were here tonight. Realistically speaking, an attack could come at any given time and in any shape or form. They had no idea what to expect and she knew that was why Oscar was so worried about it.

Unfortunately, she didn't think she was going to make a lot of progress in finding out who was behind the letters tonight. Right now she thought that most of the people present here were too stupid to be criminals – that included most of the girls, but also Reven and Cashel. Everyone here was petty and bubbly and fashionable, but she couldn't see any of them threatening to murder someone… unless that someone happened to be endangering the state of their nails or trying to take the title of Miss Emerald away from her.

She would have been irked at the prospect of security if she didn't know that it was necessary. Oscar had even gone so far as to ask Fiyero to keep an eye on Elphaba and Glinda, since the prince had been raised learning about hunting and combat skills in the Vinkus. Of course, the green girl had cornered him straight after finding out about that and told him in no uncertain terms that if he thought he could follow her around like a crazy stalker now, he had another thing coming, and that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself; at which he had merely rolled his eyes and assured her he'd figured as much without her having to tell him. She was confident that he knew her well enough to still give her some space. As for Nessarose, Boq would continue to be by her side often, since they were still dating. In all honesty, Elphaba found herself wishing that someone would attack already, just so she didn't have to partake in this nonsense; but of course, she had no such luck.

Glinda made sure she, Elphaba, and Nessarose were all well-prepared for their presentation the next day, which was basically just the girls walking down a runway in pretty dresses one by one. Much to Elphaba's horror, the colour theme of the presentation was green, because of the Emerald City. Glinda looked fabulous in a sparkly emerald day dress with a puffy skirt and Nessarose was demurely elegant in a long, pale green number with some accents of grey and silver. Elphaba, however, felt utterly ridiculous wearing this colour.

"Don't they think enough of me is green already?" she complained as she was waiting for her turn, watching one of the other girls parading down the runway. "I look ridiculous!"

"I think you look quite nice," Lunare said with a blinding smile. It had been obvious to Elphaba from the beginning that Lunare was one of the girls who was basically only interested in her because she was the princess. Glinda had warned her against being rude, though, so she merely plastered on a smile.

"Thank you."

Her dress was dark green, thankfully with some black involved as well. It had a tightly laced bodice that showed off altogether more figure than Elphaba was willing to reveal (as far as she had a figure, anyway, because it wasn't like her hips were very feminine or she had any breasts to speak of). She was glad at least it had a high neckline and sleeves, albeit short ones, and that the flowy skirt reached the floor.

She soon managed to determine her opinion of most of the girls, discovering, much to her surprise, that there were actually some among them she quite liked. Umbia, Karise, and Nathalinia seemed to be genuinely nice – in different ways: Umbia was shy and quiet, but sweet; Karise was gruff and sarcastic, which Elphaba could appreciate; and Nathalinia reminded her a little of Glinda, cheerful and bubbly. Macy, Lunare, Micaela, and Saraphina were a little harder to read. Macy was the brunette who had been sitting next to Elphaba at the dinner and she seemed to be quite repulsed by the green girl's skin, but ever since realising Elphaba was actually the princess, she'd be sugary sweet to her face – just like Lunare and Micaela. Saraphina turned out to have more depth than Elphaba had initially given her credit for and although she had mainly talked to Glinda so far, she was nice enough to the dark-haired witch as well. Then there were Faye and Caila, whom Elphaba hadn't really talked to yet, so she wasn't sure what to think of them. In general, she thought her hypothesis of these girls all being stupid and air-headed had probably not been entirely right – although she wasn't ready to completely discard it, either.

The cameras had been set up and the director motioned for Reven and Cashel to start talking; and then the presentation of the first candidate began. Elphaba watched with growing dread, waiting for her own turn, but it turned out not to be so bad. She somehow managed to walk down the runway in her heels, with the skirt of her dress fluttering around her legs, without falling over, only briefly losing her balance once or twice; and Reven complimented her beamingly when she came down from the runway. Naturally, Glinda did a wonderful job, looking more like a princess than Elphaba probably ever would; and Nessarose had to wheel, rather than walk, down the runway, but she looked wonderful as well.

When they were finished for the day and Elphaba could change back into a simpler (still fashionable), black dress and a pair of ballet flats, she sighed with relief. "That was horrible," she said bluntly. "Can we please go and spend the afternoon with Boq and Fiyero now? I need some intelligent conversation or I'll go crazy."

"You know something's wrong when she wants to look for _Fiyero_ in order to have _intelligent conversation_ ," Glinda stressed to Nessarose and the girl in the wheelchair giggled.

"Come on, Fabala," she said. "It wasn't that bad, was it? Most of the girls seemed nice enough."

"I thought they were nice," said Glinda defensively. "Obviously some of them were a little snobby or over-competitive, but I had some nice conversations. At first I thought Saraphina was a little mean, what with the way she judged Fiyero, but we had a conversation later and I was wrong. She told me about their time growing up together and apparently, his behaviour was really very bad some years ago. We bonded a little, I think."

"Over gossip about Fiyero?" Elphaba asked knowingly and her roommate flushed a little.

"Well… yes," she admitted, which made both Thropp sisters laugh.

"I know what you mean, though," said Nessa. "I really like Umbia and most of the others were friendly to me as well. Didn't you like anyone, Fabala?"

Elphaba paused. "I suppose some of them were not that bad… Karise appreciated my sarcasm."

Glinda shook her head. "Oh, Elphie."

The moment Elphaba laid eyes on Boq and Fiyero, she dramatically ran towards them and flung an arm around each of them. "Either of you," she begged, "please, _please_ kill me now."

Boq chuckled and Fiyero asked in amusement, "Was it that bad?"

"It wasn't bad at all!" Glinda protested. "Elphie is just being a little overdramatic."

Fiyero consolingly patted the green girl's head. "Don't worry, Fae. I bet you're doing great."

"I haven't done anything so far!" Elphaba wailed. "I've only sat through dinner and walked up and down a runway for a few hours and I'm already physically and emotionally exhausted! This is never going to work!"

"Of course it is," said Nessa, who smiled as Boq greeted her with a kiss. "Fiyero is right – you've been doing great and we'll continue to help you. Just try to focus on finding out who is planning on attacking on the day of the finale and maybe you won't even have to see this through to the end."

"And for now," Fiyero said, putting his arm around Elphaba's shoulders and grinning when she moaned and buried her face in his shoulder, "we're going to spend the afternoon exploring the City and having fun."

"Can we visit a bookstore?" Elphaba asked, her voice muffled by Fiyero's shirt, and he nodded.

"Sure we can," he comforted her.

She nodded and raised her head. "Okay. Then I'm in."

Glinda rolled her eyes. Nessa giggled quietly.

* * *

 **Reviews are love! ^_^**


	5. When We Misbehave

**Look at that, right on schedule! Here's some budding Fiyeraba for you.**

* * *

 **5\. When We Misbehave**

The interview was a horrid experience and Elphaba knew she hadn't done well. Thanks to Glinda, she'd looked fine when she arrived and thanks to the prep team, she looked either stunningly beautiful (according to Glinda) or utterly ridiculous (according to Elphaba herself) when she went into the small room where Kiah Dersing was interviewing the girls. There was a cameraman present as well and he'd given Elphaba a reassuring smile when she'd come in, which calmed her down a little. The dark-haired witch tried to sit up straight and not slouch, to articulate nicely and to smile prettily all the time and say all the right things, but she knew she'd failed.

The moment Kiah had asked her about her political opinion – "His Ozness has been making a lot of changes lately. For example, what do you think of the fact that he has decided that lowly creatures such as Animals should be made equal to humans?" – Elphaba had launched into a heated speech about how Animals had _always_ been equal to humans and it had only been recently that they'd started being mistreated and they were not lowly creatures at all, contrary to most of the girls participating in this stupid event, as well as the hosts and apparently also the journalists, since that was the most prejudiced question she'd ever heard and testified to Kiah's ignorance and the power of propaganda. Kiah had been shocked into silence after that and even the cameraman hadn't known what to say. Elphaba was pretty sure Oscar would have to work hard to smooth things over a little and make sure that part was cut before the interview would be broadcast the next weekend.

She fled the Hall the moment she was allowed to leave and went into the City itself, visiting museums and libraries until it was time to gather for the group photos. After that, the girls all went back to their respective hotels.

"How did your interview go, Fabala?" Nessa asked as they walked and Elphaba grimaced.

"Don't. Please," she begged. "I don't want to talk about it. Which reminds me – I'll have to write to Oscar right away to see if he can fix things before what I said actually ends up being shown on TV and all of Oz will hate me – or worse, know that I'm a fake."

Glinda stopped walking to give her friend a horrified look. "What did you say?"

"I'd rather not repeat that," Elphaba muttered, quickening her pace and pushing Nessa's chair without looking at her roommate. She could feel Glinda's narrowed eyes on her, but much to her relief, the blonde didn't say anything else about it. She probably knew she'd get nothing from Elphaba, anyway. The green girl, for her part, just hoped that she'd be able to do better next time or this whole plan was doomed to fail.

* * *

Oscar frowned a little, pursing his lips as he read the latest edition of _The Ozian_. Dr Dillamond and Chistery were reading over each of his shoulders. Glinda watched anxiously, Fiyero and Nessarose curiously; and Elphaba was draped across the arm chair in Dr Dillamond's office, looking bored with her legs swung over one of the arms as she constantly kicked the air with her feet.

When Oscar finally looked up, he was smiling. "This actually looks really good, Elphaba."

"You don't have to sound so surprised," she muttered. When there came no reply, she glanced up, only to find everyone looking at her. "Okay," she amended, "I messed up. Big time. I guess it's a surprise that my interview is good."

"What does it say?" Glinda demanded eagerly.

Dr Dillamond shook his head. "Nothing strange," he said. "Kiah stuck to the basics." After Oscar had used his influence to make her, they all knew, but no-one said it. "Elphaba Thropp, twenty-two years old, from the Emerald City. Recently discovered to be the daughter to the Wonderful Wizard. Majors in Politics at Shiz University with a double minor in Literature and Sorcery. Hobbies include reading and spending time with her friends and her sister Nessarose. Strong advocate of Animal rights."

Elphaba huffed a laugh. "I bet she thought that must be the understatement of the year, after my speech to her about it."

Fiyero grinned. "Probably."

"But does it really matter as long as the end result is good?" Chistery asked and she smiled at him.

"Not really," she admitted. "As long as no-one suspects my role in all this, I'm good."

"Look, Elphie," Glinda said, snatching the newspaper from Oscar and holding it up for Elphaba to see. "You look so pretty in your picture!" She quickly flipped over. "Oh, Nessa, you look beautiful, too! And so do I! That photographer was really talented." She glanced at her green roommate. "I suppose it could have been worse... although next time it'd be better if you'd just keep your mouth shut so that Oscar wouldn't need to influence anyone," she added with a stern look.

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mum."

"I think her passion is part of her charm," Fiyero declared, leaning back in his chair.

Now Elphaba rolled her eyes at _him_. "Because I'm oh so charming," she deadpanned.

"I think you are," he countered, making her scowl.

Glinda huffed. "A little passion is nice, Fiyero, but this wasn't passion anymore – this was _aggression_. She needs to learn to tone it down. That means more lessons in the near future, Elphie."

Elphaba groaned, letting her head drop back. "Great. Just wonderful."

"I hope that what they'll be showing on Friday night will be just as censored," Oscar said, sounding mildly concerned.

Dr Dillamond nodded. "I'm sure it will be."

"Look, Fabala." Nessa smiled, showing her sister her own interview. "Kiah thought I was sweet and beautiful and she considers me a serious candidate for the title of Miss Emerald!"

Elphaba smiled back at the younger girl. "That's great, Nessie. You are, after all." She reached out to squeeze Nessa's arm. "They'd be foolish not to consider you a serious candidate."

"Thanks, Fabala." Nessa quickly read Glinda's interview. "She liked you, too," she said to the blonde, "although she does say you appear a little vain."

Glinda flushed. "I am not!"

Elphaba snorted. "And I'm the Wizard of Oz."

"Technically, you're his daughter," Chistery pointed out and Elphaba glared at the Flying Monkey. He chortled and flew up from his seat, landing a safe distance away from the cranky green girl.

"She's fairly positive about everyone," Dr Dillamond said, reading along with Nessarose. "She also has something negative to say about each girl, though. Glinda's vain, Nessa's in a chair, Elphaba's a little too outspoken –"

"That's the understatement of the year," Oscar muttered. His daughter's glare was now directed at him, but he raised his eyebrows at her unfazed. "Do you disagree?"

"No," she had to admit and he smirked at her.

Dr Dillamond continued. "Kiah thinks Umbia is too quiet and Lunare slightly arrogant. She doesn't like Saraphina's clothing style or Faye's hair, Karise should be more polite, Caila could be a little less conscious of her high status..."

"So basically she just summed up all of our good and bad traits, our backgrounds, and our hobbies, and added a picture," Elphaba summed up. "That's supposed to give the Ozians a proper idea of who we are?"

"They have to start somewhere." Dr Dillamond folded _The Ozian_. "The people will find out more about all of you this Friday, remember?"

"However," said Oscar, "none of that really matters. What does matter, Elphaba, is whether or not you've found anything about the threats."

Elphaba shrugged. "What could I have found? I've barely seen those girls and prep teams," she reminded him. "We had one dinner and a few brief conversations over the entire weekend. I haven't seen anything suspicious yet. My job would be easier, anyway, if I knew what to look for."

"I'd tell you if _I_ knew," Oscar said, frustrated. "I don't, however. We don't know what we're looking for. I just need you to keep your eyes and ears wide open."

"Will do." She yawned and Glinda slapped her arm.

"Cover your mouth when you do that!"

The green girl groaned. "These are going to be six really, _really_ long weeks."

* * *

Over the course of the next few days, Elphaba's friends continued to educate her on beauty and etiquette, much to the young witch's chagrin. Classes had resumed by then and she worked just as hard as she used to – taking notes, writing essays and summaries, and researching things in the library; but in between, Glinda was always there, or Nessa, or Dr Dillamond, to nag her about something and it was driving her crazy. She knew she had a lot to work on for this beauty pageant, but that didn't mean she was going to cast aside her education for it. Unfortunately, Glinda was especially hell-bent on teaching Elphaba to dance properly – or at least well enough to not make a fool out of herself – for the ball that weekend, meaning hours of practising some basic dances in high heels. Each girl would have to perform a single dance in front of everyone, to show off her dancing skills and to give the people a chance to have a good look at her. Glinda had chosen a waltz for Elphaba, explaining that one was relatively easy and even the green girl should be able to learn how to do it.

Oscar and Chistery had returned to the Emerald City, but she would be seeing them both again that same weekend. All the participants of the _Miss Emerald_ competition would travel to Gillikin then (even though Elphaba had Oscar to provide for her now, she was still glad that the contestants all got paid to cover their travel expenses, since there would be a _lot_ of travelling back and forth to different places in the upcoming weeks) to attend a ball, along with a lot of press and high officials. The whole thing would be recorded as well and it would be broadcast the Friday night after that. It was not something Elphaba was looking forward to, but also not something she could change anything about. It was going to be even worse because a lot of important families from all over Oz were invited to the ball as well, meaning Pfannee and Milla would also be there with their parents. Elphaba just hoped Glinda's dancing lessons had been enough to keep her from embarrassing herself silly in front of those two… as well as the rest of the ballroom.

Fortunately, one thing had already been arranged and that was her escort. Each girl was required to bring a young man to escort her and Elphaba had dreaded it at first, assuming Boq would take Nessa and Fiyero Glinda. She'd already been debating asking Chistery when Glinda had informed her that she had actually arranged a different escort for herself, some handsome boy in the year above theirs, so Fiyero was able to take Elphaba. She'd asked him a thousand times if he really didn't mind – "No, Fae, I don't mind spending a night dancing with you, you're my friend and I'm glad I can help you this way so please just shut up about it and let me do this for you" – but she really was grateful. Hopefully this night would be a lot less horrible with him by her side.

On Thursday night, she awoke a few hours before dawn, shivering all over. Already knowing she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, she slipped out of bed and put on some warm clothes before quietly sneaking out of the room and out of the building, into the night. She wandered around campus for a while and eventually sat down on a bench along the path. Her breath made small puffs of mist in the cold air and she tilted her head back and closed her eyes for a moment. A short walk at night had always helped her when she needed to think, even back home in Munchkinland.

She opened her eyes when she heard footsteps crunching on the gravel of the path and her stomach churned. Who could be out walking across campus in the middle of the night? Visions of all kinds of criminals roaming the paths in search of a lonely student made her sit up straight, ready to defend herself should the need arise – just in case.

The person that appeared from the darkness, however, was a familiar one and she slumped back against the bench with a sigh, relieved. "Oz, Fiyero, I thought you were a murderer or something. What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

He chuckled and sat down beside her. "I've been up for a while," he said. "My roommate snores. It woke me up. I saw you sitting here from the window and I wanted to see if you were all right."

"Fine," she said tiredly, laying her head in her neck again.

He pressed on. "If you're fine, then why are _you_ out here at this hour?"

She shrugged, tucking her hands into the pockets of her coat to try and keep her fingers from freezing. "I had a nightmare," she said. "I couldn't sleep again after that. I thought a walk might help."

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, his eyes dark with concern. They were still as blue as sapphires, though – so bright she could distinguish them easily, even in the dim light of the moon and the few lanterns lit along the path. Their colour reminded her of the mythical oceans she'd read about in books.

Suddenly realising she was staring, she blinked and averted her gaze. "Oh. No. It's, um... nothing special. I have them occasionally. Nightmares, I mean."

He nodded. "About what?"

"Baby girls with tangled legs and mothers covered in blood," she muttered wryly, rubbing her eyes. "Animals' voices being taken away and Monkeys screaming as they sprout wings because of a spell I cast. The usual."

He looked pained. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged again. "I'm used to it. Like I said, some fresh air helps. Playing drums usually helps, too," she quirked a smile, "but I'd hate to disturb half the campus in the middle of the night."

He nodded, then frowned. "You play drums? Wait a clock-tick – we actually _have_ a drum set on campus?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Have you never been to the music room? Shiz University has pretty much every possible musical instrument in there."

He actually hadn't known that.

"And yes," she continued, "I play drums. Father very fiercely disapproved of it, but I had this great high school teacher back in Munchkinland who started teaching me once he found out about my interest in it and I continued on my own when I came to Shiz. Not many people know that about me." She shrugged. "I guess it helps with my anger management issues," she said with a small laugh. "Go crazy with some drum sticks and let it all out of my system, you know? It's not very appropriate for a 'lady'," she added mockingly, "but it's not like I've ever cared about that. It's pretty much the only thing to do with music that I'm good at, too."

"Huh," he mused. "You never stop surprising people, do you?"

Her smile was a little wry. "I guess."

She was shivering, he noticed, and he scooted closer, holding out his arm. For a moment, she hesitated; but then she leaned into him and let him wrap his arm around her shoulders.

"Thanks," she whispered.

He smiled. "No problem."

They were both quiet for a moment. Then Fiyero asked, "Are you worried?"

"About what?"

"The contest," he said. "The people behind the threat."

She shook her head. "No."

She smirked a little and Fiyero glanced at her face once, then rolled his eyes and said knowingly, "You're more concerned about the pageant in itself than you are about some criminal attacking everyone present at the finale, aren't you?"

She grinned mischievously at him. "I never said that."

"You didn't have to."

She laughed, letting her head drop back against Fiyero's shoulder. "Fine. You know me too well." She was quiet for a moment. "Are _you_ worried?"

He cocked his head a little to the side. "Am I? What do you think? Do you know me as well as I apparently know you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. And of course you're worried – not about the pageant, because for some crazy reason you're probably going to say that you believe I'll do great; but about the attack, because you're afraid people might get hurt."

"I'm afraid _you_ might get hurt," he corrected her. "I mean, of course I don't want anything to happen to Glin or Nessa, or any of the other people present, but you're the one having to do all the dangerous stuff like trying to unmask a potential murderer."

"They won't even know what I'm doing," she murmured. "I'm not in any danger. I'm the only one who can do this, though."

"I know." He turned his head a little so he could rest his chin on her hair. "And I'm not trying to stop you. I just worry."

She smiled tiredly and they sat in silence, Elphaba with her eyes closed and Fiyero staring out across the dark university campus without really seeing anything. He thought she'd fallen asleep, but then she asked quietly, "Why do you care so much?"

"Because you're my friend," he replied. "Why wouldn't I care?"

He felt her shrug half-heartedly. "Not many people ever have before."

The fact that she stated it like it was a fact, without a trace of self-pity, only made it worse in his eyes, but he knew she wouldn't want him to mention it and so all he said was, "Well, I do."

She nodded against his shoulder. "Thanks."

"Glinda does, too, you know," he reminded her. "And Nessa, Boq, Dr Dillamond, your father – Oscar, not Frex – and Chistery…"

She chuckled softly. "Yeah. I guess they do. I've never had so many friends before," she admitted. "It's… nice. I mean, it takes some getting used to – mainly all the attention and the worrying – but it's still nice."

They fell silent again and eventually, Fiyero shifted. "Come on. Let's get you back to your room."

She looked reluctant, but she heaved a sigh and nodded, allowing him to pull her to her feet. He walked her back to the girls' dormitories. Fiyero hesitated for a moment, but then he leaned in and kissed Elphaba's cheek.

"Sweet dreams, Fae," he said.

She could feel a flush creeping up her cheeks and she quickly shook her hair forward so she could hide behind it. "Good night," she mumbled.

He left and she went upstairs to her dorm room, bringing her fingers up to touch her cheek. It was like she could still feel his lips there.

* * *

 **Other than that, I have just posted a poll on my profile, asking you to vote for max 6 girls whom you think should make it to the finale/win the competition. It will stay up for quite a while yet and I'll warn you a few times before it closes, so you might want to hold your votes until you've read a bit more about all the different girls; but of course you can vote whenever you want!**

 **Please try not to vote (entirely) based on how much you like the girls or the FF people the girls were based on, but also keep in mind how big of a chance you think they'd have in a real beauty pageant. I get the urge to vote for all the nice, modest, non-shallow (green) girls, but I'd like your votes to sort of represent 'real' ones and the people of Oz would probably keep the prettiest rich girls in the race.**


	6. Total Detestation

**Does anyone else have trouble uploading a file with a new chapter on FF? I'm using the copy and paste option now, but when I try to upload a file, I get a notification that my file's extension is not correct, but I'm sure it is.**

 **Anyway, on with the story and some more interaction with our contestants!**

* * *

 **6\. Total Detestation**

They all gathered in Elphaba and Glinda's dorm room the next evening – the two girls themselves, Nessa, Boq, Fiyero, Oscar, Chistery, and even Dr Dillamond. Oscar had returned to the City on Monday evening and stayed there during the week in order to attend to some business, but he and Chistery had arrived at Shiz again just this afternoon so they could watch the first episode of _Miss Emerald_ with Elphaba and her friends. The two of them would also escort the group to Tenniken, the Gillikin city where the ball would take place, before Oscar would travel back to the City. Chistery was going to attend the ball as an extra pair of eyes to look out for anything strange.

Even though the girls' suite was quite big, they had a hard time finding everyone a place to sit in front of the TV. Boq and Dr Dillamond had confiscated Glinda and Elphaba's respective desk chairs, with Nessarose sitting in her own chair beside her boyfriend. Chistery perched in the window sill and Glinda was sprawled on her bed, leaving no room for anyone else on the cushion-covered surface. Oscar had awkwardly made himself comfortable on the floor. Elphaba was sitting with her back against the headboard of her own bed and Fiyero had joined her, sitting so close to her that their shoulders were touching as he stretched his long legs across the bed in front of him.

They had only barely settled down when it began and Glinda, who had the remote control, shushed them all. "It's starting!"

An annoyingly peppy tune was played as the apparent intro to the series. It was accompanied by shots of the twelve participants, one by one – first a shot of the girl walking down the runway, as recorded the previous weekend, and then a close-up – with her name and province of origin displayed as well. Some of the girls looked like they had been born in front of a camera, while others seemed a little shy or uncomfortable. Elphaba thought she herself looked like she was obviously hating what she was doing, but the others all assured her she looked great.

"In the intro, at least," Glinda added helpfully, earning herself a glare from her roommate. The blonde giggled. "Just joking, Elphie. Oh, Nessa!" she quickly changed the subject when Elphaba didn't stop glaring. "You look so pretty!"

Glinda herself, of course, looked radiant as the sun as she beamed at the cameras and everyone complimented all three girls on their performance. The hosts commented on the perfect performances of Macy, Lunare, Glinda, Faye, Nathalinia, Micaela, Saraphina, and Caila; while mildly criticising Umbia and Nessa's obvious nerves and Elphaba and Karise's visible discomfort on the stage.

Thankfully, Elphaba's interview with Kiah had indeed been cut short and although it showed her being passionate about certain things, the part where she had lost her temper with the interviewer hadn't been broadcast. Glinda, Nessa, and Oscar all heaved relieved sighs. Elphaba just rolled her eyes.

"And now," Cashel said enthusiastically into the camera at the end of the episode, "it's up to you! Our twelve beautiful contestants have been introduced to you and you have learned a little bit about them through their interviews, but which ones are your favourites?"

Reven took over, beaming just like her co-host as she talked. "You can vote now at your local post office, where voting lists will be ready and waiting for you. Who is your favourite going to be? Is it Glinda, Lunare, Macy, Nessarose, Umbia, Caila, Karise, Micaela, Faye, Saraphina, Elphaba, or Nathalinia?" As she spoke, pictures of each girl were shown again. "Votes are open up until the semi-final, when the six girls with the least votes will be sent home, so don't forget to support your favourites!"

"And that was it for today, people!" Cashel concluded. "Have a great weekend and we hope to see you again next Friday night, when you can see these beautiful ladies in some _very_ pretty gowns and judge their dancing skills!"

A short version of the annoying intro tune played again and then the show was over. Glinda turned off the television.

"Well, it seems like your hard work paid off, Miss Elphaba," Dr Dillamond said with a smile in Elphaba's direction. "Well done."

"We're not finished yet, though!" Glinda chirped. "You still have a lot to learn if you want to make it to the finale!"

Elphaba tilted her head a little to the side. "And if I don't want to make it to the finale?" she asked innocently.

Oscar gave her a look. Glinda scowled. Chistery, Boq, and Fiyero chuckled.

"Fine," the dark-haired witch said, rolling her eyes. "I'll continue to do my best. Honestly, though, I don't think I'll be able to find out anything until the live shows start," she said to Oscar. "Then it will be much easier for me to snoop around."

Her father nodded. "Just try to talk to some people at the ball this weekend," he suggested. "See if you can find anyone who is acting in a suspicious way."

She nodded, too. "I will." She looked at her sister. "Are you happy with it, Nessie?"

"I think so," said Nessa. "It wasn't too bad. I actually liked doing it and I think all the girls did very well." She yawned daintily behind her hand and blushed a little. "Sorry. I'm feeling a little tired."

"Well, then, that's our cue," said Glinda, hopping off her bed. "I'm going to kick you all out now, because we have to travel to Tenniken tomorrow for the ball and there are still a lot of preparations needed beforehand, so we'll have to rise and shine early in order to get everything done!"

Elphaba groaned. Nessarose sighed.

"We'll leave you to it, then," Oscar said with a smile. "We'll meet again in the morning. Fresh dreams to all of you."

He and the others all left then, leaving just Glinda and Elphaba. The green girl got up to brush her teeth and Glinda watched her cautiously.

"Elphie?"

"Yeah?" Elphaba asked as she peeked through the open doorway, her toothbrush already in her mouth.

Glinda blinked at her innocently. "What's Macy's father's job again?"

Elphaba scowled and moved back into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Glinda was giggling so violently that she nearly toppled over.

"That's okay!" she called cheerfully through the bathroom door. "I will quiz you on the other girls again in the morning!"

* * *

The next day was mostly spent soaking in baths, rubbing moisturiser into skin, applying layers of all kinds of lotions, creams, and make-up, and picking hairstyles and gowns for the ball that night. Glinda insisted on going over some things once more with Elphaba and then hurried away to help Nessarose with her preparations, thankfully giving her roommate some peace and quiet… or so she thought, because then Oscar and Chistery returned to drill her on her manners, Fiyero came by to practise dancing with her again, and then Glinda and Nessarose returned to help Elphaba choose what dress to wear. All in all, it was an exhausting day and by the time they finally left for Tenniken, the young witch felt like she had already lived through a war. She hoped she'd be able to remain awake and focused all night long.

At least she looked nice, though. She, Glinda, and Nessa were all wearing beautiful ball gowns fit for a princess. Nessa's was of a purple satin with a slightly ruffled skirt that had a high slit on one side, revealing the darker purple skirt underneath. Her hair had been braided and pinned up. Glinda's dress was, of course, sparkly, pink, and poofy. She looked like a sugar candy princess, her hair curled and then left loose to frame her face, only a single curl pinned out of her face with a glittery hair clasp.

As for Elphaba, her dress was strapless with a silver bodice that, as it went lower, slowly faded into a black skirt. It was puffy, but not too much so, and she was wearing silver heels underneath. Glinda had decorated her with jewellery like she was a Lurlinemas tree and she'd also gotten to her roommate's hair, securing it with so many hair clips that Elphaba could already feel a throbbing headache coming up because of the pull on her scalp, but she didn't dare complain. Especially not since the hairdo did look rather fancy and there was not a hair out of place.

Upon arriving at the venue for the ball, they found a lot of press already there – including the cameras for the _Miss Emerald_ TV show. Lunare, Macy, and Micaela were chatting up the cameras while Nathalinia and Caila were talking to (and batting their eyelashes innocently at) the hosts. Boq, Fiyero, and Glinda's date helped their respective escorts out of the carriage and Elphaba smoothed out her skirt, nervously watching everyone around her. It was so crowded already and they weren't even inside yet.

Glinda thrived on the attention, beaming and gushing to Reven and Cashel about something or another, then parading to the door on her escort's arm like she did this every day. Nessarose followed a little more discreetly, politely chatting with the hosts before allowing Boq to push her into the building.

Fiyero held out his arm to the green girl. "Shall we?" he asked.

She swallowed and nodded, accepting his arm.

"You don't have to squeeze so hard, you know," Fiyero whispered in her ear as they started walking. "You can just tuck your hand into the crook of my elbow without cutting off the blood supply to my arm."

She flushed and loosened her grip. "Sorry."

He chuckled low in his throat. "It's fine. Don't be nervous, Fae. You'll do great."

"Says who?" she muttered. "Well, you, apparently, but that doesn't count."

He raised his eyebrows. "I don't count?" he asked teasingly as he led her into the building and down a long hallway.

"Not when it comes to these things," she told him. "You're annoyingly optimistic, but not _realistic_. I'm not going to do great. I hate this. I can't do this."

"Of course you can." He gave her a lopsided grin. "Just be yourself."

"That's what Glinda said," Elphaba grunted. "Only she added "just make sure it's a slightly toned-down version of your usual self"."

Fiyero laughed and she couldn't help chortling a little as well. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes a few times. He looked very handsome tonight in a suit, with a green tie to match the tone of her skin (Glinda's idea, of course).

"You know," she said casually. "You told me I looked good in my dress last week in the City, but you look rather nice all dressed up, too."

He bowed a little, making her laugh. "Why, thank you," he said, grinning again. "I can't even remotely compare to you, though. I'm serious, Fae – you look fantastic."

She wrinkled her nose. "Thanks, I guess."

He just smiled.

They had reached the ballroom by then and they stopped, taking everything in for a moment. Elphaba took a deep breath and Fiyero squeezed her arm consolingly. "Are you ready?"

She nodded and together, they stepped forward, into the mass of people. They were instantly offered a drink and, glasses in hand, they started to mingle. Elphaba loathed mingling, but she recognised that if she wanted to find out anything about the threat – which was why she was here, after all – she'd have to talk to some people or she'd never find out anything.

"I hate this," Karise was complaining to Umbia as Elphaba and Fiyero joined them and their escorts. "Look at me – I look like a cupcake!"

"My sentiments exactly," said Elphaba with a grin and both girls, as well as the two boys accompanying them, turned around to face her and Fiyero.

" _You_ don't look like a cupcake!" Karise said as she took Elphaba in. "You look great!"

Umbia nodded. "You look beautiful," she said to Elphaba, who smiled at her.

"Thank you. You look very nice yourself," she said. Umbia's dress was simple yet elegant and a dark red colour.

"She does. So do you." Karise sighed and gestured wildly at herself. "Look at me!"

Elphaba did and she could see what the other girl meant. Karise was wearing a lilac dress with lots of ruffles and layers that didn't seem like her at all. "Why would you pick such a dress?" she demanded incredulously.

"I didn't!" Karise protested. "My mother did! If it weren't for her and the rest of my family, I wouldn't even _be_ here. I hate this stupid competition," she grumbled, "but they basically forced me to participate. It's all about the image of the family."

Umbia nodded. "For me, too," she confirmed. "My mother very much wanted me to participate, so I decided to try it. For her."

"What are we talking about?" Saraphina asked as she and Glinda joined the small group. "Oh, Elphaba! You look wonderful!"

Again, the customary compliments about looks were exchanged and the girls all chatted for a while before Reven and Cashel asked for everyone's attention.

"Our _Miss Emerald_ girls will now, one by one, show off their ballroom dancing skills!" Reven gushed. "The first to step forward is Karise Fennows from Quadling Country!"

"Oh, joy," Karise muttered, unceremoniously grabbing the hand of the young man she'd brought and tugging him along to the dance floor. "Let's get this over with."

As everyone's attention was on the couple on the dance floor, Elphaba and Fiyero surreptitiously sneaked away from the small group and started making their way through the crowd, trying to listen in on as many conversations as possible, especially between the contestants, as one by one the girls showed off the dance they had practised with their dates. Aside from Karise, who looked every bit as cranky as she probably felt, and Caila, who turned out to have two left feet, all the girls did great.

Elphaba stopped for a while when Nessa's turn came so she could watch the wheelchair-bound girl being pushed around the dance floor by Boq, both of them looking radiant and like they were having a lot of fun, which made her smile. At some point, she caught Chistery's eye from across the room and she exchanged a smile with him before continuing to move around the ballroom.

It didn't seem like many of the contestants were having interesting conversations, though. Caila and Faye were having an animated conversation about the designers of their dresses, the make-up brands they had used, and who had done their hair for the night. Nathalinia was at the refreshments table with her escort and they were chatting about something insignificant. Pfannee, Milla, Lunare, and Macy were all standing close together and when Elphaba moved past them, she paused to listen in on their conversation, figuring it could never be anything good if Pfannee and Milla were joining in. Once again, she wondered why other important families from Oz had to be invited to this ball.

"I mean, of course I'm hoping to befriend her because she is the princess," Lunare was saying. "Imagine the things I could do as the princess's best friend!"

"I know, right?" Macy smiled widely. "It'd be great for my reputation – especially if I also were to win the _Miss Emerald_ competition! The prettiest girl in all of Oz with the princess as her friend… imagine that!"

"She's such a freak, though," Pfannee sniffed. "Have you seen that skin? It's disgusting!"

"And then there's the fact that she's nothing like a princess," Lunare agreed. "She doesn't seem to care about the competition and it's clear that she knows nothing about fashion, or dancing, or anything else you'd need to know to be a proper lady, let alone a princess. She's sort of nice, though, I guess."

"I suppose," Macy said. "Just really ugly and a little strange."

Elphaba could feel Fiyero stiffen beside her when he heard that.

"A little?" Milla echoed, giggling.

Lunare giggled, too. "Yeah, okay. A lot."

"She's the weirdest, creepiest vegetable I've ever seen!" Pfannee declared.

The girls all burst into giggles. Fiyero clenched his fists, obviously furious. Elphaba herself, however, had grown rather good at hiding her true feelings over the years.

Calmly, she tapped Macy's shoulder. "Excuse me?" she asked politely.

Macy and Lunare turned around and faltered visibly when they laid eyes on the princess. Lunare quickly plastered on a smile.

"Your Highness!"

"Hi," said Elphaba, giving the other girl a huge, fake smile of her own. "It's _so_ nice to see you two. My best friends, right?"

Macy giggled nervously. "Oh, Your Highness, we were just teasing a little!" she said in a sugary sweet voice. "We didn't mean anything by it!"

"Oh, of course not!" Elphaba said in the same tone of voice. "I completely understand! You know," she said to Lunare, "you were right before, about me not quite being very princess-like. I thought maybe you and Macy could teach me a couple of things."

"Of course!" Lunare said, her smile widening. "What kind of things would you like to learn?"

"Well," Elphaba said, pretending to think about that. "Maybe you could teach me how best to kiss the arses of people more influential than me."

Lunare blanched. Macy just stared at the green girl and Pfannee and Milla gasped dramatically. Behind the dark-haired witch, Fiyero was choking on his drink.

"Or maybe you could teach me how to gossip and be nasty about people behind their backs," Elphaba continued, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Or how to stand the presence of snobbish, arrogant rich girls like these two." She nodded at Pfannee and Milla. "Although then again, it seems like you belong to their kind, too, which would explain why you'd be spending time with them."

"Just because you happen to be the princess, doesn't mean you can treat us this way!" Macy hissed, pointing at her.

"Exactly!" Lunare said hotly. "Why are you being so mean to us? We did nothing to you!"

Elphaba just snorted. "Oh, please," she said sarcastically. "I just literally heard you two admit that you actually think I'm a freak, but you're being nice to me just because I'm the princess and you might be able to use your connection with me to your own advantage. I have no interest in playing nice with either of you. You're no better than they are." She glanced at Pfannee and Milla again, who both spluttered indignantly.

"I told you she was horrible!" Pfannee cried.

Macy narrowed her eyes. "For a green freak, you're not trying very hard to fit in and gain popularity, you know," she sneered.

Elphaba scoffed. "Do you really think I care what you think of me?" she asked incredulously. "Here's some news: _I don't_. I'm still green and I'm still your princess, regardless of whether or not I try to fit in; and this may be a foreign concept to you, Macy, but I prefer my _real_ friends over desperate boot-lickers like yourself." She smiled brightly at the girls and gave them a wave. "Good luck with the rest of the competition," she said in the same sugary tone they'd used on her before. Then she turned on her heels and walked away, Fiyero right behind her.


	7. A Fairy-Tale Plot

**There you go - already late updating again. Sorry!**

 **I'm glad you all liked sassy Elphaba, though. There'll be more of that in the future... and of other things, too. *cough*Fiyeraba*cough***

* * *

 **7\. A Fairy-Tale Plot**

"That," Fiyero said as he followed Elphaba through the crowd, "was amazing."

She gave him a wry grin. "Thanks."

Cashel called Lunare and her escort forward, but Elphaba didn't even glance over her shoulder at the other girl. She stopped walking and released a frustrated breath as she turned around to face Fiyero.

"None of these girls are murderers," she said. "Some of them are petty, vain, arrogant, stupid, mean, greedy, and manipulative, yes, but not even Macy or Lunare seem capable of murder. Especially not during the beauty pageant finale. It's way too important to them." She blew a loose lock of hair out of her face and sighed again. "This was all a bad idea."

Fiyero touched her waist, gently drawing her closer. "Fae… I'm sorry about what they said about you just now," he began, but she waved him away tiredly.

"Don't. It's nothing I haven't heard before."

"That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt," he said knowingly and she shrugged, not saying anything. Much to her surprise, he wrapped his arms more fully around her and hugged her. She tensed a little at first. Then she relaxed, hugging him back.

"Thanks, Yero," she said as she pulled away.

He grinned at her. "You're welcome."

"Look at that," Pfannee sneered from behind them. "The artichoke is in love with the prince. How pathetic."

"Shut up, Pfannee," Fiyero snapped at the redhead; but before he could say anything else, the music stopped. Lunare and her escort bowed and left the dance floor, glowing at the polite applause they received as they headed for Macy, Pfannee, and Milla. Reven called for the next contestant, Miss Elphaba Thropp.

"Now it's your turn, greenie," Lunare hissed at Elphaba through her teeth as she passed her, her fake smile still plastered on her face. "I'm looking forward to seeing you making a fool out of yourself."

"Again," Pfannee, who had overheard, added nastily. She smirked at Elphaba. "We all remember the OzDust." She and Milla giggled.

Lunare and Macy gave them questioning looks and the green girl could hear Pfannee and Milla starting to tell the story. Elphaba felt herself flush, but she refused to be flustered. She held her head up high as she walked onto the dance floor on Fiyero's arm.

"Relax," he murmured. "I'll lead. We practised – you've got this."

"I know," she said.

It was true: she couldn't dance. Not by herself, anyway. The way she'd embarrassed herself at the OzDust Ballroom a little over a year ago proved that; the memory of that night still made her cringe, even though both Glinda and Fiyero insisted they'd actually been rather impressed with the courage she'd showed. She hadn't felt brave in that moment, though, just betrayed and angry and alone. She felt that if she had proved anything to herself and her fellow students that day, it was that she really, _really_ couldn't dance.

She'd never been good at dancing with a partner, either, but Frex had forced her to take lessons nonetheless so she wouldn't embarrass him at parties. She'd practised with Fiyero a couple of times in the past week, but her real progress had been thanks to Glinda. Her blonde roommate had been a true slave-driver. She'd taught Elphaba some basics of different types of dances, but she'd especially spent a lot of time practising this particular waltz with her friend. They'd practised until Elphaba's feet felt like they would fall off and even then, Glinda had not been satisfied, wanting Elphaba to be perfect so that she could show the other contestants something. Not even Fiyero knew how well she could do at least this single dance. She'd been frustrated with Glinda, but now she could only be grateful. The look of shock that would surely appear on those girls' faces in a few minutes would make all the pain in her feet worth it.

Fiyero laced their fingers together and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, earning himself a grateful smile from her. He placed his other hand on the her waist and drew her closer. Elphaba's breath caught in her throat when she looked into his eyes and they stayed like that for just a moment, their eyes locked. Then the music began.

She was nervous at first, but the moment they took the first step, she knew they were completely in sync and they would be fine. Fiyero guided her through the steps and she easily kept up with him, remembering everything Glinda had taught her. They glided across the dance floor as the music swelled and Fiyero dipped her and twirled her around, subtly and gently correcting her every time she did make a slight mistake. She was fairly confident that no-one noticed those slight missteps and all in all, it went even better than she could have hoped for. Fiyero grinned at her and she grinned back, giddy about the whole thing. She glanced in the direction of Macy, Lunare, Pfannee, and Milla once, only to find them all looking dismayed and cranky. It only improved her mood.

When the music ended, she curtseyed and Fiyero bowed; and as the crowd applauded, they made their way off to the side, where Glinda greeted them with a beaming smile.

"Elphie!" she squealed, enveloping her roommate in a hug. "That was wonderful! You did such a great job! I honestly thought you were totally going to mess it up –"

"Why are you always so mean to me?" the green girl complained.

Glinda giggled. "You didn't, though!" she assured her friend. "You two were brilliant. You looked quite cute, too. Oh!" Her eyes suddenly started shining and she clasped her hands together.

Elphaba eyed her warily. "What?"

"Nothing," Glinda said innocently. "It's just… this idea I had." Her eyes kept darting back and forth between Elphaba and Fiyero, with this knowing little smirk around her lips. It was annoying, to say the least.

Elphaba pulled herself to her full height and gave her best friend a threatening glare. "Glinda…"

Just then, however, Cashel called Glinda's name and she quickly nudged her date, smiling widely at Elphaba. "Sorry, Elphie," she apologised. "It's my turn now!" With that, she moved away from her roommate, talking quickly to her date as she guided him over to the dance floor and they assumed the appropriate position to begin their dance.

Elphaba huffed and crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. "Silly girl. What in Oz is she up to now?"

Fiyero thought he might have an idea, but he wisely decided not to mention it.

* * *

It was quite late by the time they left the ball and returned to Shiz. Chistery would fly back to Shiz on his own and Glinda and her date rode back with Pfannee and Milla, which left Elphaba, Fiyero, Nessarose, and Boq to share a carriage. Nessa, exhausted after the long night, quickly fell asleep against Boq's shoulder and the Munchkin himself followed not long thereafter with his head on Nessa's, snoring slightly.

Elphaba herself was tired, too. After each girl had shown off her dancing skills in front of the cameras, Reven and Cashel had introduced them all to a bunch of important Ozians – ambassadors, mayors, rich businessmen, and influential socialites, most of whom had sponsored the _Miss Emerald_ competition somehow. Needless to say it had cost Elphaba a lot of effort to remain polite and to keep smiling; and even then, it was not over yet, because then all the girls and their escorts had to be on the dance floor at the same time for some more pictures and recordings for the show on Friday night.

The journey to Shiz was mostly quiet. It lasted about an hour and Elphaba spent most of it reading, of course having sneaked a book and her glasses into her purse, while Fiyero just rested his chin on his fist and stared out of the window. At some point, Elphaba yawned and put her book and glasses away, laying her head against Fiyero's shoulder and dozing like that for a while.

The prince gently woke her up once they arrived at the university. "Fae?" he whispered, nudging her slightly. "We're here."

"Mmh." She blinked sleepily. "Already?"

Fiyero shook Boq awake as well, who then in turn woke Nessa. After the two boys managed to settle Nessa in her chair, Boq and the younger girl bade the other two good night and disappeared off in the direction of Morrible's quarters. (Elphaba had wanted her little sister away from that terrible woman at first, but she had eventually recognised that no matter how horrible Morrible might be, she did take care of Nessa rather well and she wasn't really a danger without her magic or anyone to support her. Elphaba did keep a close eye on her, though – just to be sure.) Fiyero, meanwhile, walked Elphaba back to the girls' dormitories.

"You know," he said after they had walked a short while in silence. "You really do look beautiful tonight."

She sighed. "Fiyero…"

"I mean it," he said, looking at her. "I know you don't think I'm telling the truth, but I _am_ and I'll keep telling you until you believe me. Just because you're green, doesn't mean you're ugly. Especially not when you look like this." He gestured at her dress, which was glistening in the light of the street lanterns illuminating the campus paths. "And regardless of how pretty all those other girls might have looked tonight, you were without a shadow of a doubt the most gorgeous girl in the room."

He could see a dark blush creep up into her cheeks, but she ducked her head before he could study it more closely and she murmured, "Thank you."

He smiled. Being shy was so unlike her, but it suited her somehow. He took her hand and squeezed it; surprised, she looked up at him and when he grinned at her, she chuckled softly and squeezed back.

He really wanted to kiss her.

He didn't think she'd ever guessed the real reason he'd broken up with Glinda. He was pretty sure Glinda herself had guessed, though, and although she probably wouldn't have liked it in the beginning, she seemed to be okay with it now – more than okay, judging from her reaction earlier that night. He knew, however, that the real challenge wasn't Glinda – it was Elphaba herself, and he was going to have to be very patient in order to convince her that he really did like her and it wasn't just a passing crush.

They reached her dorm building and he wondered for a moment if he _should_ kiss her, but then he decided against it. She had enough on her plate already and he knew it would come too unexpected. It wouldn't go over well. So he just brought their joint hands up and kissed the back of her hand in an exaggerated gesture, bowing. "Milady. It was a pleasure to have accompanied thou tonight."

She chortled. "The pleasure was mine, good sir," she said, rolling her eyes even as she did so. "Good night, you idiot."

He grinned at her. "Good night, Milady." Then he remembered something. "Um… wouldst thou mayhaps be so kind as to aid this poor, unfortunate soul with his Politics essay in the morrow? I doth fear that he may fail it otherwise…"

She snorted a laugh and shook her head, but she was grinning. "Fine," she said, smirking at him. "I'll help you. Consider it a 'thank you' for escorting me tonight."

"You don't need to thank me for that, you know," he said, suddenly growing serious again. He gently tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear. "I meant it when I said it was a pleasure."

She flushed slightly again and he pulled his hand away, deciding that was probably enough for today. "'Night, Fae."

Much to his surprise, it was she this time who leaned up a little and brushed her lips against his cheek, just at the corner of his mouth. She was blushing even more fiercely when she moved back again. "Regardless of whether it was a pleasure or not," she said, "thank you. You made tonight a whole lot more bearable for me by not forcing me to go with some random guy who would have made me uncomfortable all night long."

He knew he was grinning like an idiot. Honestly, he didn't think he could be more giddy if she'd yanked him down for a passionate make-out session.

"Good night," she said quietly. Then she turned around and disappeared into the building.

* * *

 **The poll is still open and will remain so for another while. You can vote now or wait until after chapter 13 - then you'll have seen pretty much all there's to see of the other characters before the semi-final.**

 **Reviews make me happy!**


	8. Frank Analysis

**I've already got quite a few votes on the poll, which is awesome! Keep them coming! :)**

 **In the meantime, here, have some FIYERABA. ^_^**

* * *

 **8\. Frank Analysis**

"She's smart. Maybe we could use that to our advantage somehow?"

"But how, Chistery? Being intelligent isn't really a skill you can show off. Besides, we'll all be taking an intelligence test later on in the competition. She's bound to do very well on that one." Nessa shook her head and brought her cup of tea to her lips, frowning into it when she realised it was empty. She glanced surreptitiously at the waitress and Boq, catching her look, waved the woman over, earning himself a grateful smile from his girlfriend.

"Can't she sing or dance?" Dr Dillamond suggested. "Or maybe something else that would be appropriate for such an occasion?"

Glinda actually laughed out loud at that. "I'm sorry, Dr Dillamond, but have you ever heard Elphie sing? You might as well bring a cat and step on its tail. It sounds about the same."

"Gee, thanks," Elphaba muttered, but no-one was paying any attention to her.

"She danced very well at the ball last weekend," the blonde continued, "but she's not good enough to be able to use that as her talent. And honestly, I can't think of anything else ladylike that she could do."

"A speech about Animal rights? She helped us very well, after all," said Chistery. "She's done a lot for us. She'd do great."

"She would, but is that really a skill?" Nessa asked him. "Besides, we also have to present our charities the week afterwards and she has the Animal rehabilitation project as her charity already, too."

Chistery nodded thoughtfully. "A political speech, then?"

"No," Dr Dillamond said instantly. "She can't give anything away about her political viewpoints. Don't forget the main reason she's in the pageant is still because she needs to find this opponent who wants to wreck Oscar's government. We don't want to alarm him or make him suspicious of Elphaba in any way. That's why showing off her magic is out of the question, too."

The Flying Monkey sighed. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Me, neither," Glinda said gloomily. "For Oz's sake, Elphie, why don't you have any proper skills?!"

"Come on, be nice," Boq protested mildly, but Elphaba waved a weary hand at him.

"It's fine, Boq," she said, pushing herself to her feet and grabbing her bag and her half-empty paper cup of tea. "They're right. I don't have any talents I could possibly show off during this ridiculous contest." She glanced at the group gathered together in the café. "Why don't you continue attempting to come up with something and let me know once you have?" she said sarcastically. "I'll be in the library helping Fiyero with his Politics essay. At least _that's_ a skill I'm good at." With that, she left the café.

She'd hated this competition from the very beginning, but she found that as it progressed, it was starting to irk her more and more. There were so many stupid things she had to pay attention to that in the end really weren't relevant at all. She cared about her education and she cared about helping Oscar catch the guy who was threatening to blow up the pageant finale; that was it. She didn't care about all the little details of the competition – the clothes she had to wear, the talents she had to show off, and all the other silly tricks she and all the other girls had to perform.

By the time she reached the library, her mood had turned exceptionally foul and even the lopsided grin Fiyero gave her couldn't cheer her up. She slammed her books down onto the table and plonked into the chair, scowling as she demanded to see what he had done for his essay so far.

He gave her a cautious look. "Is everything okay?"

"No," she snapped. "Don't make it worse."

He held up both hands in self-proclaimed innocence. "Not saying anything."

"You just did."

He pretended to lock his mouth and throw away the key. She threw him a disgusted look and pulled his essay (or, well, what he had written for it so far) towards her, scowling down at it as she started to read, but he quickly snatched it away.

"Hey!" she protested. "Do you want me to look at that or not?!"

"Not in your current mood," he told her. "I know you when you get like this. You're frustrated and you're just looking to pick a fight right now, so I'm not going to let you read anything I've written because you'll criticise it to the point where I'll be crawling under this desk in shame and will remain depressed for a week because of all the horrible things you said. It's not worth it. Just go and blow off some steam somewhere, Fae – you need it. I can do this by myself."

She seemed to deflate a little, her shoulders slumping. "So apparently I'm not good at helping people study, either," she sighed, miserably resting her chin in the palm of her hand. "Am I really such a wicked witch?"

"Not at all," he comforted her. "Or, well, just a little, when you're in a really bad mood. I don't mind, though." He winked at her. "I like it when you get a little wicked." He only realised once he'd said it how that sounded and he flushed a little, but she didn't seem to notice. She just sighed again and he scooted closer to put his arm around her shoulders. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shrugged. "I'm just frustrated," she muttered. "There was a poll in the newspaper this morning. Glin and Nessa, along with Saraphina, Lunare, Faye, and Nathalinia, were in the top 6, meaning they'll be in the semi-final if they manage to keep their spots; but I came in tenth and Glinda completely freaked out over it. She insists we have to take it up a notch to get me in the top 6 before the next poll, otherwise it will be unrealistic and suspicious if I suddenly end up in the semi-final after scoring so low on the public opinion polls. As if that's not bad enough, I haven't found anything out about that bomb threat yet. This whole competition is silly and idiotic and a complete waste of time, but at the same time it's also pretty hard and it costs me a lot of time and effort – time and effort I'd much rather be putting into my education instead. I'm falling behind on my school work –"

"Okay, not yet having started on a presentation you're supposed to be giving in two weeks' time does not count as 'falling behind'," Fiyero interrupted.

She scowled at him. "Under normal circumstances, I would have been halfway finished preparing that presentation already!"

"But these aren't normal circumstances," he said. "And that's okay. You'll be fine, Fae, really. You've only spent, like, two full days with the people involved in the pageant. That's hardly enough time to have been able to find out anything. You'll discover something eventually; I don't doubt that for a clock-tick. Your education isn't going to suffer because of this competition, either, and if you need a break, just tell the others to leave you alone for a day or so and do your own thing."

"As if they'd allow that!" She rested her cheek on her arms on the desk now. "Glinda can't go a single hour without pestering me, let alone an entire day. Even Nessa, Chistery, and Dr Dillamond seem to be stalking me now – hell, even _Boq_ talked to me about the pageant the other day – and they don't seem to have any faith in me at all. No-one is leaving me alone about this whole thing and I just can't take it anymore!"

"Okay," he said firmly. "That's it. I know you have classes all day tomorrow, but the day after that, I'm taking you away from Shiz."

She moaned dramatically. "Where?"

"I don't care," he said, "but I happen to know you only have morning classes, so straight after those, I'm kidnapping you and we're going somewhere else. Bring whatever you need to get yourself to relax a little. We can go get ice cream, or visit a bookshop, or just sit in a café all day and do nothing – whatever you like. You can bring a book and read, or do some school work if you must, but I'm not letting you anywhere near any of those beauty pageant freaks. Everyone is starting to get obsessed and it's ridiculous. You look like you haven't had a good night's sleep in forever, Fae. It's physically and emotionally unhealthy."

She knew he was right about that and so she conceded. "Tuesday, then. Will you let me have a look at that essay now?"

He looked hesitant and she rolled her eyes. "I'll try not to be a witch about it," she promised. "But honestly, Yero, we both know that usually when you ask for my help, you need it. And especially in your Politics class, you can use all the help you can get."

He had to admit defeat at that. She chuckled and pulled his notebook towards her, starting to read as Fiyero mentally congratulated himself on getting her out of her bad mood.

* * *

It was a relief greater than she could have imagined to be away from Glinda, Nessa, and everyone else beauty pageant-oriented for a while.

When Elphaba's morning classes were over, Fiyero waited outside for her and instantly whisked her away despite Glinda's protests. The blonde had to watch helplessly as her ex-boyfriend and best friend quickly disappeared between the other students, heading off campus and over to a waiting carriage. The security guards keeping the press (and other threats) off campus glanced their way, but Fiyero gave them a wave and they went back to what they were doing. Elphaba supposed they recognised the prince, since he was supposed to be unofficial part of security, too. It irritated her a little, but she supposed it was better to have Fiyero around in case the guy making the threats showed up than to have an actual guard following her whenever she left campus.

The moment they were inside, the carriage started driving and it didn't stop until they were in a small town near Shiz, where Fiyero gallantly helped the dark-haired witch out of the carriage and gave her a crooked grin.

"What would you like to do first?" he asked. He bowed. "Your wish is my command."

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "I don't know. Didn't you mention ice cream yesterday?"

"I most certainly did," Fiyero said, his eyes brightening, and she laughed at his eager expression.

"Lead the way," she said, gesturing for him to go ahead, and he grinned again and started walking, Elphaba right behind him.

"What's your favourite flavour?" he asked her as they got in line and she shrugged.

"I don't really have one."

He looked shocked. "You don't have a favourite flavour of ice cream? How can you live with yourself?" he demanded and she scowled at him.

"I thought we were here to get me _away_ from people judging me all the time," she complained and he gave her an apologetic grin.

"I was only joking. I'm sorry. Can I pick ice cream flavours for you, then? They have a lot of different ones at this parlour. You _have_ to taste my favourites."

She shrugged. "Sure. Surprise me."

Of course, he then insisted on getting her a cone with three scoops of ice cream because "There's no way I can choose only one favourite out of these three, Fae". When she tried the ice cream, though, she had to admit that he'd picked delicious flavours.

"What are these, even?" she asked as she devoured the ice cream. "It's amazing, but I don't think I've ever had these flavours before."

Fiyero chuckled. "Lemon cake, blueberry yogurt, and hazelnut," he informed her. "They don't have them at your average ice cream parlour. That's why I usually go to this one." He watched in amusement as she dug in so enthusiastically that she got some ice cream on her nose and he reached out to wipe it away. "Here, you have a little something…" He trailed off when she lifted her head a little, just when he was about to touch her nose, and his fingers touched her lips instead. He instantly drew away, clearing his throat. "I mean… um… on your nose."

"Oh." She quickly wiped the ice cream away, blushing. "Thanks."

He cleared his throat awkwardly and changed the subject.

After finishing their ice cream, they took a walk in the park and then installed themselves in a cosy, intimate café, where they had lunch, after which Elphaba pulled a book from her bag and curled up against Fiyero's side on the bench they were sitting on.

"What, have I been turned into a back rest now?" he asked with a laugh and she nodded, smirking a little.

"Yep."

"Fine." He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him, which, much to his surprise, she hardly protested. He put his chin on her shoulder and she even shifted a little, allowing him to better see the pages of her book so he could read along.

They spent the rest of the afternoon that way, deliciously quiet after all the craziness surrounding the _Miss Emerald_ competition. By the time they left the café to return to Shiz, Elphaba almost felt human again.

"Thanks for doing this for me," she said to Fiyero as they sat in the carriage together. "I really needed that."

He smiled and turned his head a little to drop a kiss to the top of her head. "You're welcome."

He could tell she tensed a little at that and she brooded for a few moments before bursting out, "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Kiss me," she said. "Or touch me. Don't get me wrong, I don't really mind, but… well, not many people touch me. Afraid the green is contagious, I guess." The corner of her mouth quirked up into a weary half-smile, but he didn't return it.

"That's nothing to smile about, Fae," he told her flatly. "And you should know by now that I'm not like that."

She flushed a little. "I know," she said apologetically. "I didn't mean it like that."

He nodded, accepting her apology, and she gave him a small smile.

"Just so you know," she said, "you're pretty much the only person I don't mind being around right now. I'm just glad the insanity hasn't gotten to you, too. I hope you know I always did like spending time with you – I mean, we're friends, so I guess that's obvious, but… well, especially since this stupid contest started, you've been really great. Helping me out, and escorting me, and making me take a break when you think I need it… thank you. I owe you."

He grinned a lopsided grin at her that made her heart do a little somersault in her chest. "Not a problem, Fae," he said, casually letting his arm fall around her shoulders. "And you don't owe me anything. I don't mind. As long as I'm with you, I'm happy."

She gave him a scrutinising look, but he just blinked back innocently at her until she looked away again. He knew she wouldn't realise how true his statement had been and he didn't feel like explaining himself to her. Not yet, anyway.

Then he got an idea and he grinned a little. "Hey, Fae?" he whispered into her hair. "What do I get if I help you out again?"

She glanced up at him. "My eternal gratitude?" she tried. "A big hug? I know how fond you are of hugs."

He chuckled. "Not quite what I had in mind, but I'll take it," he teased her.

She stuck out her tongue at him. "What are you even going to help me with, anyway?" she demanded and his grin widened.

"I know what skill you can use for the talent part of the competition."

She stared at him and when he told her what he was thinking, she gave a very un-Elphaba-like squeal and threw her arms around him in the hug she'd promised him. "Oh my Oz, Fiyero, that is perfect! Why didn't I think of that?!" In her exuberance, she planted a big kiss on his cheek, failing to notice how badly that made him flush. "Thank you. Again. I'm eternally in your debt. You just keep saving my life."

He gave her a sceptical look and she amended sheepishly, "Okay, not my life, but my reputation in front of the entire country."

He laughed and she shook her head. "I'm serious!" she protested. "I honestly thought I was going to have to take a crash course in juggling or something, just to have something to show everyone as my 'talent'. You're wonderful. I mean it. I could kiss you right now."

His laugh died away and he stared at her. She blushed a little when she realised what she'd said, but she didn't look away when he locked his eyes with hers. Quietly, he said, "I wish you would."

She let out a nervous chuckle. "What?"

He, however, seemed completely serious and she stared at him, dumbstruck. "Yero…"

"Never mind," he said, forcing a smile and looking away. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Forget I said that."

But she'd already seen how serious he was by then and although she couldn't begin to comprehend it, she knew he hadn't been joking. For now, that was enough. So instead of allowing him to look away, she put her hand on his cheek to make him look back at her and then she leaned in and kissed him.

* * *

 **I figured that just this once, I wanted their relationship to be a bit more straightforward. They're always dancing around one another for so long (in my fics, at least), I decided to try it a little differently this time around.**


	9. Fervid As a Flame

**So, apparently, I uploaded this chapter into my Doc Manager but did not post it. Oops. Well, here it is now!**

 **I think this is my favourite chapter of the ones I've written so far - both Fiyeraba-wise and sass-wise.**

* * *

 **9\. Fervid As a Flame**

"Elphie!" Glinda cried the moment her roommate set foot in the room. "Finally! What took you so long? I was starting to think you'd never come back! We wondered if we'd chased you away forever!" She bounded over to the green girl and hugged her. "Oh, Elphie, I'm sorry – I know we've been taking this whole thing a bit far, maybe," she apologised. "We'll try to keep ourselves in check. This isn't even really about you doing well in the pageant, after all – it's about you doing well enough to not look suspicious, but your real mission is catching Bomb Threat Guy. I should have kept that in mind. I'll help you with that from now on, okay? Can you ever forgive me?"

Elphaba absently patted Glinda on the back. "Of course, Glin."

Glinda beamed at her. "So where have you and Fiyero been?" she gushed. "Was it nice? What did you do?"

Her friend shrugged. "We went to get ice cream," she said. "Took a walk. Had lunch. Spent the rest of the afternoon reading together." _Kissed_ , she almost blurted out, but she didn't. For one, she knew how Glinda would react: she'd either burst into squeals and demand all the details, or she would not be okay with the idea of her best friend and her ex-boyfriend together. Neither scenario was one Elphaba was prepared to deal with right now. She needed to sort some things out for herself first.

Fiyero, as she found out the next day, seemed to respect that, though that didn't stop him from making clear to her how he felt. He was waiting in the courtyard with Boq and Nessa and the moment he laid eyes on Elphaba, his face lit up with a beaming grin. She could feel herself blush and she tried to avoid his gaze, but it was difficult. Even as she focused on the conversation between Glinda, Boq, and Nessarose, she could constantly feel Fiyero's eyes on her.

They moved to their respective classes, but things weren't much better in the classroom. Nothing to do with Fiyero this time; it was just that this particular History class was the first class of the week Elphaba had together with not just Milla, but Pfannee and Shenshen as well. After the ball that weekend, they'd gotten particularly obnoxious and the moment they saw the green girl, they started making frog noises.

Dr Dillamond, who had just come in, flushed visibly with anger. "Girls!" he chided, horrified. "This is _very_ childish behaviour!"

"Don't bother, Doctor," Elphaba said to him. "I'm used to it."

He looked even more horrified at that, even though he'd seen it happen plenty of times already in his own class alone. Nessarose pressed her lips together in disapproval, but didn't say anything. Elphaba glanced at Fiyero, who looked just like she imagined _she_ had looked right before she'd unleashed her magic on the whole class over a Lion cub.

"Let it go," she told him. "They're not worth it."

He raised his eyebrow a bit sceptically. "Is that what you tell yourself every time this happens?" he demanded.

She shrugged. "Yes."

He softened at that and took her hand under the table. She was a little surprised by the gesture, but the small smile he gave her melted her and she squeezed his hand softly.

Glinda, meanwhile, had turned around in her seat and said hotly to the offensive classmates, "You three are just jealous because _she_ is in the top twelve of the _Miss Emerald_ competition and _you_ didn't even make it past the second round!"

"I did, too!" Pfannee argued shrilly.

"And me!" Shenshen added. Milla, looking ashamed now because she actually hadn't made it past the second round, kept her mouth shut.

"Oh, that's right," Glinda said, innocently batting her eyelashes at her former friends. "Pfannee did make it further than that… just not far enough, did you?" She smirked. "And Shenshen – it's such a shame your daddy pulled you out. Then again, it's not like you'd have won in the end. They look at personality, too, you know. They'd never let someone like _you_ win."

Shenshen flushed bright red. "That was mean, Galinda!" she cried.

Glinda scowled at her. "It's _Glinda_ now," she said snippily. "It has been since before last summer. Which you would have known if you'd have been nice to Elphie, because then we'd still have been friends."

"Why would I bother being nice to _that_?" Pfannee sneered. "It would be like being nice to the broccoli on my dinner plate!"

Dr Dillamond scraped the floor with his hoof to get the class's attention. "Girls!" he snapped. "This is uncalled for! One more such remark and I'm sending you to the Headmaster!"

The girls, however, completely ignored him.

"She is your _princess_!" Glinda was saying hotly to Pfannee.

"How did she get so far in the competition, anyway?" Milla asked. "Just because she's the princess? It's not like many people find an artichoke so attractive."

"The princess thing is the only thing she has going for herself," Pfannee said to her friend. "I bet that's why Galinda – sorry, _Glinda_ ," she mocked, "ditched us for her. She found out about the princess thing and decided she wanted the power coming with being the princess's roommate and best friend. That's the only reason that asparagus is in the _Miss Emerald_ pageant and the only reason anyone is ever nice to her." She shot Elphaba a dirty look, but the green girl just yawned.

"That is _so_ original," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Let me guess: the next thing you're about to call me is a green bean. Am I right?"

Shenshen looked wide-eyed and a little sheepish, indicating Elphaba had indeed probably been right. The dark-haired witch rolled her eyes and turned around in her seat again.

"Never mind, Glin," she said to her roommate. "It's fine."

"It is most certainly _not_ fine!" Glinda cried. "Those three are _pigs_!"

The three girls gasped in unison as if that was the most terrible insult they had ever heard.

"It's a good thing there are no cameras allowed on campus," Nessa muttered. "Otherwise this would have been filling pretty much the entire next episode of _Miss Emerald_."

Elphaba could only agree. Especially since Glinda and the girls seemed far from finished with their argument.

"I never even saw her in the earlier rounds," Pfannee said nastily to Glinda. "I bet Daddy Wizard just paid for his precious little vegetable to get a spot in the final twelve. He probably bribed some people or something."

Elphaba stiffened a little, since this theory was rather close to the truth, but Glinda didn't miss a beat.

"You were in the Munchkinland rounds, you dolt," the blonde said with a sniff. "Elphaba is from the Emerald City."

"Well, Nathalinia didn't know her, either, did she?" Pfannee argued. She glared at Elphaba. "Never mind, though. It's not like _you_ are ever going to win, either," she scoffed. "You may have everyone fooled with your princess trick, froggy, and wrapped around your little finger because you have status, power, and money now; but we've known you before all that happened. We know better. We know what a monster you really are!"

Before Elphaba knew it, Fiyero was practically launching himself across his chair, clearly intending to punch the redhead. All three girls started shrieking dramatically, even as Elphaba quickly held the prince back.

"Stop that," she snapped at him, roughly pushing him back into his chair. "I can fight my own battles and I will _not_ have you going around punching girls in the face. You're better than that, even if _they_ aren't. Oh, for Oz's sake, stop squealing!" she added to Pfannee, Shenshen, and Milla, who were still gasping and wailing like someone had just tried to murder them. "You're giving me a headache!"

"They really are pigs," Nessa said in wonder, which made Elphaba grin a little.

Glinda giggled, too. "They are."

Dr Dillamond had been trying to call the class to order for a while now, but he couldn't make himself understandable over the noise. Surprisingly, most of their classmates seemed to be on Elphaba's side, although she suspected that was – as Pfannee had said – mainly because of her royal status. The girl had been right about that: much more people were going out of their way to be nice to her now that she turned out to be a princess, which was annoying, but she supposed it was better than being called names all the time. Only the students who _really_ seemed to hate her, such as Pfannee, Shenshen, and Milla, had persisted in doing that.

"He tried to punch me!" Pfannee shrieked at Dr Dillamond.

"She called Elphaba a monster!" Fiyero defended himself.

"Because she _is_!" Milla yelled back at him, which made him go red in the face again, but Elphaba closed her fingers around his arm so tightly it actually hurt.

"Don't you dare," she hissed at him.

"I'm going to Madame Morrible!" Pfannee was crying. "I'm going to file a complaint against Fiyero!"

"Morrible isn't Headmistress anymore, you idiot," Glinda reminded her none too friendly. "She can't do anything about this, anyway. And thank Oz she can't, either, because she was just as stupid and disgusting as you three. Good riddance!"

Dr Dillamond cried in shock, "Miss Glinda! That is no way to talk about your teacher!", even though he knew as well as Glinda and Elphaba did what Morrible had tried to do. Still, he couldn't be seen supporting such talk about his colleagues in public.

"I'm going to tell her you said that!" Pfannee shrieked in unholy glee. "She'll never award you _or_ artichoke here any points then!"

Glinda blinked. "What are you talking about?"

Milla smirked at her former friend. "Madame Morrible is on the jury panel for the final _Miss Emerald_ shows, Glinda," she said sweetly. "Didn't you know?"

"You'll never make it!" Pfannee cried, laughing a little hysterically. "We'll make sure of it!"

Elphaba, however, had frozen. Morrible was on the jury panel? She glanced at Dr Dillamond, who met her gaze. He looked just as startled as she felt; she thought he couldn't have known about this, either. She swore softly under her breath. Morrible, involved in the beauty pageant… it wasn't hard to guess who was behind the bomb threat now.

Dr Dillamond slammed a hoof onto his desk. "Silence!" he bellowed.

The noise in the classroom died down.

"Miss Pfannee and Miss Milla," Dr Dillamond said calmly. "Please report to the Headmaster."

More indignant squeals, which went ignored by the Goat.

"Just us?" Milla demanded. "What about Blondie there? Or Princess Snot-Monster?" She and Shenshen giggled about that for a while.

"Or that filthy Winkie?!" Pfannee added rudely.

Dr Dillamond started saying, "I will not tolerate name-calling in my class!"; but before he'd even gotten to the end of that sentence, Elphaba had already twisted in her seat, eyes blazing, and Pfannee was hurled backwards, chair and all, and pinned against the wall.

A shocked silence fell over the class.

"Pfannee," Elphaba said, her voice shaking a little with pent-up anger, but her face blank. "Why don't you apologise to Fiyero for that very rude thing you just said about his people?"

Pfannee spluttered, clearly shocked and a little frightened, but Elphaba's burning gaze held hers until she relented and squeaked, "I'm sorry".

Elphaba exhaled, relaxing her grasp on her magical powers. Pfannee's chair clattered to the floor with Pfannee still on it, trembling violently.

Dr Dillamond let out a sigh. "Miss Elphaba," he said tiredly. "I really don't want to have to do this, but I can't play favourites – you know that. I'm sorry. Report to the Headmaster, please."

She nodded and gathered her things, not looking at any of her friends even though she knew they were all looking at her. She slung her bag over her shoulder and, without another word, followed Pfannee and Milla out of the classroom.

* * *

Thankfully, Elphaba's visit to the Headmaster's office was quite short. He kept her, Pfannee, and Milla waiting in his office until Dr Dillamond had finished teaching his History class and when the Goat came in as well, the Headmaster asked him what exactly had happened. Dr Dillamond told him, causing Elphaba to be left off with a warning and Pfannee and Milla with detention. They barely even protested; after Elphaba's magic trick, they both seemed to be rather scared of the green girl.

When Elphaba came out of the Headmaster's office, she found Fiyero waiting for her in the hallway.

He gave her a lopsided, sympathetic grin when he saw her. "Hey. Was he very hard on you?"

She shook her head. "Just a warning," she said. She shrugged. "Even if it had been detention, it would have been worth it. Pfannee shouldn't have said that. It was an insult not just to you, but to your people."

"What about all the things she said about you?" he asked her a little angrily, but she just shrugged again.

"That's different."

"No, it's not," he countered.

She glared at him and he sighed. "I'm not going to win this fight, am I? I mean, I hated you doing this – standing up for others, but not for yourself – when we were still just friends, but I hate it even more now that we're…" He trailed off. "What are we?"

"Are we not just friends anymore?" she asked him a little uncertainly. "I mean… we could continue being just friends. If you want to."

He gave her a look. "I think I made it fairly clear that I don't want to, Elphaba."

A dark red blush crept into her cheeks and he grinned at her. "You're pretty when you blush."

"Shut up." She stomped his arm. "Were you serious, then?"

"Yes." He studied her face. "Were you?"

Her blush darkened, which was really the only answer he needed. He placed his hands on her hips and drew her closer, kissing her softly.

She swatted him away. "Not here. What if someone sees us?"

Fiyero frowned a little. "You want to keep it a secret?"

"What is 'it'?"

"Our…" He faltered. "Well, relationship, I guess."

She stared at him, a mild panic taking over. Her voice was higher than usual when she asked, "How did it go from a few kisses to a relationship?"

"You just said you were serious about this," he protested and she smirked a little.

"Technically, I never said such a thing," she pointed out. "You asked and then you just assumed that I would say yes and you kissed me." His face fell and she quickly added, "I would have said yes, though."

He glanced back at her and then chuckled. "This is weird. We've been friends all this time, and I've liked you, well, _that_ way, about seventy-five percent of that time… I've been wanting to kiss you for so long. And now I finally can." Before she knew it, he'd stolen another kiss again and when she scowled, he grinned at her once more, slipping his arm around her waist.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go have lunch with the others. I know you, so I'll save the kissing and hand-holding for a while – from now on, anyway – and I'll just give you some time to think about all this and what you want with it. Not too long, though, because then you'll _over_ -think it and I'll have to spend hours and hours trying to convince you that you really are what I want, regardless of how strange or impossible you think that may be."

She stared at him as they walked, dumbfounded. "How…?" She shook her head incredulously. "Never mind. I guess you really do know me."

"Oh, trust me," he said, still grinning. "I really do."

* * *

 **Poll is still open!**

 **Any favourite lines? Let me know :).**


	10. Very, Very Popular

**I'm glad you all liked the sass and the Fiyeraba. :) As I said, I've done the Fiyeraba a little differently this time - kept it easier, maybe, without all the doubts, since I've done that so often before already.**

 **Guest: Thank you so much! And yes, I've heard about the Wicked movie. I'm excited, too, although I'm a little scared to get my hopes up; it could either turn out brilliant or terrible, depending on the casting and the way they're going to film the whole thing... but I'm certainly curious!**

* * *

 **10\. Very, Very Popular**

Fortunately, no-one seemed to notice anything odd between Elphaba and Fiyero that day and since there were no more confrontations with snotty rich girls, either, Elphaba was happy. That changed when she walked across campus with Glinda to get some dinner, however.

"Your Highness!" someone cried and the next thing she knew, someone was almost standing nose-to-nose with her, eyes bright and eager. "Tell me," the woman said breathlessly. "Is it true that you attacked Pfannee Caprice in class this morning?"

Only then did Elphaba notice the pencil and notebook in the woman's hand. A reporter. How had she even gotten onto the premises?

Glinda gave the woman a cold stare. "If I recall correctly, you are not allowed anywhere on campus," she reminded her, but the reporter hardly seemed to care.

"Listen," she said earnestly. "Either you can send me away now and let me publish this story from Pfannee's point of view – and trust me, she gave me a very good story. She's the one who sent for me in the first place, but I get the feeling there was more to her story than she told me and so I decided to come to you as well to hear what you have to say about it – or you can talk to me. I promise you won't regret it."

Elphaba and Glinda exchanged a look.

"Well," said Elphaba. "We hardly have a choice, then, do we?"

Glinda reluctantly shook her head and the dark-haired witch sighed. "Let's sit over there."

Together, they told the reporter the story of what had really happened that morning – Glinda, of course, slightly exaggerating Pfannee, Milla, and Shenshen's behaviour in order to make her own and Elphaba's reactions seem even more justified. They glossed over the fact that Elphaba had used magic, instead remaining rather vague and simply telling the reporter that Elphaba had taken revenge on Pfannee for her remark about Fiyero. When the woman expressed disbelief, Glinda skilfully referred her to Boq, Nessarose, or Dr Dillamond, all of whom had been there. Elphaba could only admire her roommate's ability to spin the tale so that the reporter had her pencil flying across the pages of her notebook, clearly eager to take in every piece of information the blonde gave her. Glinda, of course, concluded with a beaming smile and a toss of her hair, casually mentioning how grateful she was that good and honest reporters such as this woman still existed and that she was confident the reporter would understand which story was the truth and act accordingly.

The woman wanted to ask both of them more, but just then, one of the guards patrolling campus caught sight of her and marched over to her, his expression thunderous.

"You people are not allowed anywhere near the candidates' schools or homes," he barked as he approached the trio. "You know that as well as I do, so get out of here before I call the Gale Force on you!"

The woman quickly gathered her things and hurried off. Glinda flashed a grateful smile at the guard, who tipped his hat at her and then continued his round.

"I hope she'll publish the true story," Elphaba muttered as she and Glinda continued their way to the cafeteria, "and not Pfannee's version, because then my reputation would actually be completely ruined – both as a princess and as a contestant. Oscar is never going to be able to justify my continued participation in the pageant then."

"She will," Glinda said confidently, looping her arm through Elphaba's. "I had her wrapped around my little finger. Don't worry about that."

* * *

She turned out to be right. The next morning, she awoke to find Glinda already up and about. That wasn't such a rare thing; despite her self-proclaimed need of beauty sleep, Glinda was actually more of a morning person than her roommate, especially since Elphaba often lost track of time and ended up studying until quite late at night. It wasn't strange for her to catch up on her sleep in the morning and it wasn't strange for Glinda to already be busy with her morning beauty routine by the time Elphaba reluctantly opened her eyes.

What _was_ strange, however, was to find Glinda sitting at her desk, reading. Regardless of what the blonde might be reading, the fact that she was reading at all – or even sitting at her desk, because Elphaba almost never saw her do that – was a bit of a miracle. She looked happy about it, too.

When she heard Elphaba stir, she looked up with a wide smile on her face. "Elphie!" she cried, causing her friend to wince at the volume. "Boq just dropped off _The Ozian._ Read!" Glinda came running over, waving the paper and then dumping it on Elphaba's bed.

The young witch moaned, sighed, and grumbled, but then pushed herself into a sitting position and reached for the reading glasses on her nightstand. Sleepily, she pulled the paper towards her; but then her eyes widened and she was instantly awake.

 _PRINCESS DEFENDS MINORITY GROUP IN CLASS_ , one of the headlines on the front page read.

Elphaba quickly read the article, which started with a back story on Elphaba's life and her participation in the _Miss Emerald_ beauty pageant, but was basically the story of how 'three girls from prominent families expressed their jealousy of Princess Elphaba by calling her names and making fun of her', after which 'several of the princess's friends came to her defence' even though Elphaba herself had 'displayed proof of her royal heritage by not engaging in the childish fight, but rising above the situation'.

Glinda huffed at that part. "Is that some hidden criticism of me? She's basically saying I was acting childish by standing up for you!"

"I'm sure she didn't mean it that way," said Elphaba, even though she was pretty sure the reporter _had_ meant it that way. She flashed her best friend a smile. "And besides, I very much appreciate you standing up for me, even if _she_ doesn't."

"Aw, Elphie!" Glinda cried and instantly wrapped her roommate up in a hug.

Elphaba hugged her back, rolling her eyes. "Even then, you shouldn't do it," she said sternly. "Like I said to Fiyero, I can fight my own battles and I'm used to it. You shouldn't rise to the bait. They're just doing it to get a reaction out of us."

"I know." Glinda sighed. "I just can't help it. Why was I ever friends with those girls?" she complained. "They're horrible! Shallow, and stupid, and ignorant, and arrogant, and ditzy…"

Elphaba snorted a laugh. "That not what you said in our first year," she said teasingly.

"Please, Elphie," Glinda said absently, "don't snort when you laugh. It's not ladylike. Keep reading."

Elphaba rolled her eyes again, but complied. The article continued to inform the reader that 'however, when the three girls tried to elicit a response from Princess Elphaba by lashing out at the heritage of her good friend Prince Fiyero of the Vinkus', Elphaba had 'lost her cool' and 'demonstrated her incredible power by pinning the offensive girl against the wall with her magic and demanding an apology for her friend'.

"How does she know that?" Elphaba demanded, suddenly feeling frustrated. "We didn't tell her about the magic!"

"Pfannee must have," Glinda murmured. She looked worried. "Oscar wanted to keep your magic off the public record. He thought it could be an advantage to surprise Bomb Threat Guy with."

"More like Bomb Threat Woman," Elphaba corrected her, still frowning at the article through her glasses. "Remember what Milla said, about Morrible being on the jury panel for _Miss Emerald_?"

Glinda's eyes grew wide. "Surely you don't think –"

"Of course I think she's behind all this." Elphaba pushed the newspaper away and removed her glasses, tossing them back onto her nightstand. She threw one arm over her eyes and groaned. "She couldn't get us with magic or manipulation, so now she's resorting to violence. Face it, Glin – it's very like Morrible to send word in advance of some evil thing she's planning on doing, just so she can be smug about it once she actually makes it happen."

"It is," Glinda admitted. "But her previous plan was manipulating you into doing magic for her. Do you really think she's now willing to kill you, and a whole lot of other people with you, just to get revenge?"

"Her previous plan was gaining power over Oz," Elphaba corrected her, "by using me and my magic. Making a bomb explode at the _Miss Emerald_ finale would be a huge blow to the Ozian government – no pun intended…"

Glinda giggled anyway.

"…and it would be a potential opening for her," the green girl continued.

Glinda looked thoughtful. "But everyone knows about her betrayal," she countered. "All of Oz knows that why their Wonderful Wizard fired her."

Elphaba shrugged. "I don't think that would stop her from trying."

"Good point." The blonde narrowed her eyes. "We should definitely keep an eye on her."

Elphaba grumbled something under her breath and dragged herself out of bed. "I'm going to get dressed," she muttered. "I'm hungry. I need breakfast for this. And coffee. Definitely coffee."

Glinda giggled again. "Hurry up then, you."

* * *

Of course, the news had by then already spread across the campus like wildfire and everyone was looking and whispering as Elphaba and Glinda made their way over to the cafeteria to get breakfast. Glinda had insisted her friend needed to look good today, to give off an air of royalty to everyone now that she had been declared a hero in _The Ozian_. This meant Elphaba had been forced into petticoats and low heels she kept tripping over, not to mention a dress that did match the Shiz University colours, but probably defied the dress code in every other sense of the word. Glinda kept insisting it looked great on her roommate, but Elphaba wasn't so sure she agreed. As they walked, she tried to ignore the looks directed their way, but she felt self-conscious – even more so in this dress – and she was glad once they finally reached the table where Fiyero and Boq were already waiting for them.

"Where's Nessa?" Glinda asked as they sat down.

"Sleeping in," Elphaba replied for her sister. "Her classes don't start until later this morning."

Boq cleared his throat. "Are we really going to talk about Nessa's classes right now?"

"Yes," said Elphaba, glaring at the Munchkin. "Because the alternative is discussing the thing I know you two probably want to discuss, but I'm not doing that. If anyone so much as _mentions_ the word "newspaper", I'm going to take my breakfast and eat it in the library, is that understood?"

Boq nodded sheepishly, but Fiyero protested. "Fae, it's not like it's something you should be ashamed of!"

She grunted something under her breath. "Oscar is not going to be happy about this. He wanted to keep my magic a secret and I bet it's all people are going to talk about now. Then there's the fact that everyone is either gaping at me like I'm the Wizard of Oz himself or glaring daggers at me like I've _murdered_ the Wizard of Oz. I already regret talking to that reporter yesterday."

"Only if we hadn't, she would have published Pfannee's story instead and then _everyone_ would be glaring at you like you've murdered the Wizard," Glinda reminded her airily.

Fiyero frowned. "There weren't supposed to be any reporters on campus at all."

"Pfannee sent for this one," Elphaba told him. "She obviously wanted to try to discredit me publicly as revenge for what I did to her yesterday, but the reporter probably thought this would make a more interesting story." She sighed. "Chistery and Dr Dillamond probably won't be too pleased with me, either."

She turned out to be wrong about that. Chistery, who approached her just when she was heading to class, fell into step beside her and didn't stop chattering about the newspaper article, how everyone thought she was a hero now, and how this definitely made up for any mistakes she might have made so far – or might still make in the future – with regard to the beauty pageant. It was clear that he admired her greatly for the way she'd defended Fiyero, even if her magic kicking in had mostly been unintentional.

Dr Dillamond, too, didn't seem angry when he saw her on campus. He merely smiled at her knowingly and nodded before being on his way. She supposed maybe something good had come from the situation after all, although she wouldn't know that for sure until someone told her about the public's general reaction to the whole thing. She suspected it would at least be mentioned on the next _Miss Emerald_ episode the next day.

She spent the rest of the day avoiding people – both haters and admirers – and trying to focus on her studies; but by the time she crawled in bed that night, she was exhausted and couldn't help but think wryly that she was in dire need of another one of Fiyero's 'escape trips'. Maybe he'd be willing to kidnap her again sometime that weekend. She certainly wouldn't mind.

And maybe, she mused as she turned onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, she should make a decision on what to do with him. Did she want to give whatever this was between them a try or was she too afraid? It _did_ scare her, but not much more than the whole beauty pageant thing did and she was doing that, too. Once again, she thought of her resolve to face her fears instead of running away from them. Wouldn't that go for something like this, too?

That was it, then, she decided. Tomorrow, she'd tell Fiyero that she was willing to give it a chance. And after that… well, she supposed they were going to have to tell their friends.


	11. Hard To Resist

**I was convinced I had updated last Thursday, but it turns out I didn't. Oops. Sorry!**

 **Fae'sFlower: No alter egos for a while, sorry. I've kept them only minor characters, since the story is mainly about Elphaba and the crew. You'll get to know your alter egos a bit better in chapter 13, though!**

* * *

 **11\. Hard To Resist**

As it turned out, she didn't get a chance to talk to Fiyero alone until late that afternoon, when he came to the library to fetch her for dinner. He grinned when he saw her and she looked at him suspiciously.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head, still grinning. "Just happy to see you."

She blushed at that, but she refused to show him the effect it had on her when he said such things in a such a casual tone of voice. She scoffed. "You're just happy you found me because you're one step closer to eating dinner now."

She could tell that he knew what she was doing, but his grin just widened. "That, too." He perched on her desk and reached for her pile of books, starting to pack them into her bag. "Finish up and come with me. I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," she muttered, but she was smiling and she did as he had said. Once she'd packed everything, Fiyero swept her bag off the desk and swung it over his own shoulder.

She scowled at him. "Give that back."

"No," he said. "I'm a gentleman, remember? I'm not going to let Her Royal Highness Princess Elphaba Thropp-Diggs of Oz and future Miss Emerald carry her own bag."

She shuddered, realising with dawning horror that that was actually her official title now – minus the whole 'future Miss Emerald' thing, of course. "It's just Elphaba Thropp, a.k.a. the resident green girl," she corrected him, "and she is perfectly capable of carrying her own bag, thank you very much."

"Oh, trust me," he said, his blue eyes dancing. "I know." He didn't give back her bag, though.

She sighed, pretending to be irritated, and he pouted at her. "Come on, Fae."

"Insufferable," she said under her breath, which earned her another of those grins that made her feel weak in the knees. That reminded her… she had something to tell him. Not here, though, with all these people around.

She kept procrastinating as they left the library and headed across campus for the cafeteria. Just as she had almost finished gathering courage, however, Fiyero solved the issue by bringing it up himself.

"So," he said lightly. He didn't look at her, which told her that despite his attempt to be casual about his question, he was anxious to ask it. "Have you given my suggestion some thought? You know, about… well, about us?"

She took a deep breath. "I have," she said, wondering for the thousandth time if this was really the right decision, then reminding herself of her resolve to confront her fears. "I, um… I guess I'm in if you are."

There. She'd said it.

Almost subconsciously, she already mentally braced herself for his rejection – maybe he'd even laugh at her – but of course, that didn't come. Instead, his grin returned, only even wider and more beaming than before.

"Really?" he asked, stopping her. "Do you mean that?"

"I wouldn't have kissed you if I didn't like you," she pointed out. "And I won't say that I'm not scared, because I've never done anything like this before, but… well, until I try, I'll never know, right?"

"Right," he agreed quietly, taking a step closer to her. He cupped her face in both his hands and leaned in. He was so close that their breaths mingled, but he didn't close the final distance between them, probably wanting to give her a chance to back out; so Elphaba was the one to bridge the final gap and press her lips against his. He responded instantly, kissing her back, but she drew away fairly quickly.

She chortled a little when she saw the disappointed look on his face. "We're in public," she reminded him. "I won't have our classmates gaping at us – or worse. Imagine a reporter having sneaked onto campus again and snapping a picture of us."

He sighed. "I know. You're right." He quickly brightened again, though, as they continued to walk in the direction of the cafeteria. "So… can I take you on a date tonight?"

"You can have a TV date in my dorm room, because the next _Miss Emerald_ episode is on tonight," she said with a little smirk and he cursed.

She swatted at his arm. "Behave."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, grinning again. "Fine. TV date it is. But tomorrow..." He faltered. "Wait. Tomorrow's Saturday. You probably have another _Miss Emerald_ event, don't you?"

"Actually, I don't," she said. "Next week's episode is about the presentation of our talents, so the TV crew is coming to our homes and schools in order to film presentations of our skills in front of our family members and friends." She rolled her eyes. "It's from Monday until Wednesday and I'm _not_ looking forward to it, but I guess you're lucky, because I don't have any plans tomorrow."

He looked decidedly pleased about that. "Tomorrow, then. I'll take you on another outing away from the competition craziness," he promised. "You liked that, didn't you?"

"Very much," she confirmed. "Did you, though? Does me using you as a pillow for hours as I read a book really count as a nice date for you?"

"Are you kidding?" he asked with another one of those grins. "As long as it's just the two of us spending time together, it's a perfect date for me."

* * *

Elphaba didn't know how it was possible. They entered the cafeteria together, yes, but they weren't holding hands or even touching as they came in and made their way over to the table where their friends were sitting. The moment Glinda laid eyes on them, however, her eyes widened and she said instantly, "Oh my Oz, you two are together."

Both Elphaba and Fiyero could only stare at the blonde.

"What?" Boq asked, confused.

Glinda fluttered her hands at the couple impatiently. "Elphie and Fiyero! They finally admitted they're in love with each other! You have, haven't you?" she asked. "You are together?"

Fiyero was the first to find his voice again. "We are," he said finally, bewildered. "But… how did you…?"

Glinda giggled. "Oh, you know I have a sixth sense for such things." She winked at him, then squealed and threw her arms around Elphaba. "I'm so happy for you, Elphie! When did this happen? Something must have been going on for a while already, I'm sure of it. This didn't just happen overnight. I mean, of course I know you two have liked each other for a long time," she prattled on, "but I never thought either one of you would act on it. To be honest, I wasn't completely sure if you liked one another _that_ way until recently – you're both so hard to read and you were always beating around the bush, both of you. Then at the ball, though, I thought I noticed something, but I was sure I would have to intervene somehow to make something happen. I never thought you'd get around to it yourselves! Wait – I know. Was it the trip into the village the other day? When Fiyero saved you from our beauty pageant talk, Elphie? That's so romantic!"

Elphaba and Fiyero could still only gape at Glinda like she'd grown two heads and Nessa, taking pity on her sister, suggested, "Why don't we all get something to eat first, Glinda, and then Elphaba and Fiyero can tell us exactly what happened?"

Unfortunately (for Glinda; Elphaba thought it was quite fortunate), they'd been late for dinner and they had to eat quickly and hurry back to the girls' dorm room in order to be in time to watch the new _Miss Emerald_ episode, so Glinda hardly got the chance to interrogate her friends. In fact, as Fiyero and Boq carried Nessa's chair up the stairs, she pushed her thoughts of Elphaba and Fiyero aside and started panicking over the competition.

"What if the people don't like me?" she asked anxiously. "What if they think I'm too blonde and ditzy, or too stupid, to be _Miss Emerald_? What if I come across as a total idiot on TV and I'll be eliminated in the semi-final?"

"Or me," said Nessa as the boys placed her chair on the floor and she wheeled herself towards the door. "Maybe I won't make it to the finale, either. People will probably hate my chair."

"I'd say it was very unlikely for _me_ to make it to the finale," said Elphaba sarcastically, lowering her voice, "but of course Oscar is manipulating the whole thing so I can stay in until I find Bomb Threat Woman. Or Guy," she amended when she saw the look Glinda threw her.

"I do think you're right about it being a woman," Glinda admitted. "You don't have proof yet, though."

Elphaba pressed her lips together. "I will."

"Who are we suspecting here?" Boq asked curiously, but Elphaba waved him away.

"I'll tell you later," she promised. "Right now we have a show to watch."

Chistery was already waiting for them at the door when they arrived. Oscar wasn't present this time, finding himself unable to get away from the City right now; but since he'd already heard that Elphaba had done great at the ball, he was confident there wouldn't be a problem. Dr Dillamond didn't join them this time, either, having excused himself because he had a lot of work to do. He'd watch the show in his office as he graded some papers.

They all huddled in front of the TV together and the opening tune played again, which made Elphaba groan. Glinda shushed her.

The young witch let her head drop against Fiyero's shoulder. "I'm not sure I want to see myself dance," she confessed.

He chuckled and pressed a kiss to her hair. "We did great," he said confidently. "I mean, I was your partner – how could you have done badly?"

She raised her head to glare at him and he laughed again. "Joking, Fae." He pulled her back against him and they watched in silence for a moment.

"Hey, Yero?" she whispered at some point.

"Yeah?"

"How is this any different from what we usually do?"

He looked at her. She was right – they'd sat like this dozens of times already. Fiyero was generally a person who liked to touch, always putting his hand on someone's shoulder, or his arm around someone. It had made Elphaba uncomfortable at first, but she'd gotten used to it by now. Even the kisses, as she had pointed out to him a couple of days ago, weren't new; he'd been doing that for weeks, if not months, already.

"I may have been grooming you a little over the past month or so," he confessed. "You know… the kisses, as you pointed out the other day, and some more touching than usual. I figured that once I'd finally muster up the courage to act on my feelings for you, it'd be a much easier transition for you if you were already used to such things. Even then, I knew you'd probably be scared and you'd find it difficult to adjust."

She shook her head in mild amazement. "How _do_ you know me so well?"

He shrugged. "We've been friends for over a year," he reminded her. "I paid attention."

She was quiet for a while, processing this new information. On the screen, Macy was shown dancing with her partner, that arrogant look on her face Elphaba knew so well. She did a wonderful job, of course. Cashel and Reven were giving commentary on each girl's posture, movements, choice of escort, dress, hair, and make-up, and probably a bunch of other silly things Elphaba didn't care about.

"So," she said quietly after a while. "What changes, then? Between us?"

He grinned. "I was hoping you'd ask that. See, I get to do this," he bent down to kiss her softly on the lips, "now."

She raised an eyebrow. "And that's all?"

"Pretty much," he said. "Well, we'll probably spend more time together than before – just the two of us, that is."

She thought of their 'escape trip' and smiled a little. "I don't think I mind that so much."

"Good." He combed his fingers through the ponytail she was wearing her hair in. "You were already used to the kissing and the touching, we were already talking a lot… Aside from dates and kissing – _proper_ kissing, that is – I think there's not much that will change."

"I think I like that," she admitted and he grinned at her.

"I rather thought you would."

"Regardless of how adorable the two of you are and how badly I want to hear this conversation," Glinda cut in, "could you please continue it later? We're trying to follow the episode!"

Both Elphaba and Fiyero apologised and Glinda giggled at them before returning her attention to the screen.

Nessa and Boq looked very sweet as they 'danced' together, she in her chair. Karise didn't do so well, continuously stepping on her partner's toes and looking decidedly unhappy in her frilly cupcake dress. Caila didn't misstep, but she looked tense and not as graceful as she could have been. Lunare made the whole thing look rather scandalacious, constantly sharing sultry looks with her date, both of them grabbing the other in places that weren't entirely appropriate, and Nessarose sniffed indignantly.

Umbia was a little shy in her dancing, just like she was in real life. Micaela and Nathalinia did great, as did Glinda herself and, as they all admitted, Elphaba, too. Reven and Cashel praised the green girl for not just her dancing skills, but also the way she looked and the partner she had chosen ("The princess of Oz and the prince of the Vinkus! Don't they just make a lovely pair?"). Faye and Saraphina, however, were the real stars, sweeping across the dance floor with fluent steps, and doing complicated moves, lifts, and dips with their dance partners that had Reven and Cashel gushing enthusiastically.

The final five minutes of the episode, of course, were about Elphaba and her fight with Pfannee – or, as Reven and Cashel presented it, "Princess Elphaba's fight for equal treatment of the minorities in Oz".

"This is ridiculous," Elphaba complained. "I put _one girl_ in place over _one remark_ she made about Fiyero's people and now I'm suddenly fighting for equal treatment of minorities in Oz? When did this happen?"

"They probably count it with your love for Animals and your fight to have _them_ treated equally," Nessa reasoned. "Between those two things, I suppose one could say that you're fighting for equal treatment of minorities, don't you?"

Elphaba had to admit that that was probably true.

"Besides," Chistery added, "you've been so afraid this whole time that people wouldn't believe you'd make it to the finale because of your skin and your temper. Now they all think you're a hero, which would make that more believable."

"You're right," she said with a sigh. "I guess it's a good thing, then."

Glinda turned off the TV and then turned around to face her friends. "All right," she said sternly. "The show is over. Now, Elphie, we want to know what the story is of how you and Fiyero got together."

* * *

"Elphie?" Glinda asked later that night as they were lying in bed. The others had stayed quite a long time after the show, wanting to know everything that had happened, which had exhausted and irritated Elphaba. Fiyero hadn't minded the questions so much, but even he had grown annoyed in the end – especially with Glinda, who kept asking questions that were absolutely none of her business.

Elphaba wondered how long it would be before the press found out about her and Fiyero's relationship and there'd be another article about her in _The Ozian_. She'd briefly contemplated keeping the whole thing a secret for that reason, but then decided it wasn't worth the trouble. What did she care what other people thought about her? She'd been getting hell for one thing or another her whole life already – be that about her skin or her relationship with Fiyero, she didn't really care. As long as _he_ wouldn't care, anyway, which he said he wouldn't.

"Elphie?" Glinda asked again. "Are you awake?"

Elphaba shifted a little. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry. I know the whole questioning about you and Fiyero went a little far."

The green girl sighed. "It's fine, Glin," she said tiredly. "I know you, after all."

Glinda giggled. "That you do."

She was quiet for a moment, then asked again, "Elphie?"

"Mmh."

The blonde propped herself onto one elbow and looked over at her friend. "I know I promised to leave you alone about the beauty pageant," she began. "You know, unless something really urgent comes up or you're about to commit a major social or fashion blunder…"

Elphaba rolled her eyes, even though her roommate couldn't see that in the dark. "Yes."

"…but, well… you realise the talent judging is coming up next week."

"I do."

"And you don't have a talent picked out yet."

"I do."

Glinda sat up suddenly. "You do?!"

"Yes, I do," Elphaba repeated calmly. "Fiyero suggested one on our day out, after you all made it very clear to me that I don't have any talents that I could possibly use for this," she couldn't help adding sarcastically.

She could tell by Glinda's voice that she was probably blushing, slightly embarrassed. "Yes, well… we didn't mean it like that, Elphie. You have plenty of talents. Just… none that really seemed suitable for an occasion such as this one." She bounced a little, obviously excited. "So which talent did you pick?"

Elphaba smiled into the darkness. "That's for me to know and for you to find out next week," she said in a sing-song voice, turning onto her other side. "Good night, Glinda."

She had to ignore the blonde's protests for almost a quarter of an hour before Glinda finally shut up and Elphaba managed to fall asleep, a slight grin playing around her lips at the mere thought of her friends' reaction to the talent she was about to show them the next week.

* * *

 **Drop a review with your favourite lines and I might update again tomorrow to make up for the update gap this time! ^_^**


	12. Prove My Worth

**Yeah, yeah, sorry - I should't be going around promising extra updates when I'm not at home to actually update. I was away all day yesterday and I got back later than I had expected.**

 **Kudos to Ozian-in-Australia for guessing Elphaba's talent!**

* * *

 **12\. Prove My Worth**

Elphaba would be called upon by the _Miss Emerald_ TV crew for the recording of her talent presentation on Tuesday, along with, of course, Glinda and Nessarose. Until that day, she kept the talent she would be using firmly under wraps, refusing to tell Glinda about it no matter how many times she asked. Only Fiyero knew and he gave her an encouraging grin every time the subject came up. He was confident she'd do great. She was less sure, but she knew this talent was the best chance she had at not embarrassing herself on TV and so she'd just have to grin and bear it.

Nessarose would be showing the TV crew some of her embroidering material as the presentation of her own skill, while Glinda was hosting a small party in the courtyard so she could show off her organisational, social, and dancing skills. Glinda had already informed Elphaba about the talents some the other girls were going to show off, having interrogated quite of a few of them at the ball in Gillikin.

"Lunare is probably going to show off her fashion sense by giving a make-over or something – or at least, that's what Micaela told me," the blonde had said. "Saraphina is going to sing, of course. She's supposed to have a lovely voice. If you ask me, Fiyero really missed out on something when his behaviour led her to break their engagement."

Elphaba hadn't replied and Glinda had flushed, realising what she'd said. "Oh, I didn't mean that, Elphie! I mean, Saraphina is wonderful, but you're even better! He's much happier with you than he ever could have been with her, because you're meant to be together!"

Elphaba had just snorted. "Nice try, Glin."

Her roommate had then quickly prattled on. "Anyway, Macy will be playing the piano, Faye is dancing; and I don't know for sure what the others might do, but it'll surely be something impressive, too. Now what are you going to do, Elphie?"

"Not telling," Elphaba had said and that had been the end of it.

"You know what annoys me the most about this whole thing?" the dark-haired witch was complaining to her sister as they were attending Glinda's party and watching the TV crew swarm around the blonde, filming her as she danced with some handsome boys, socialised with the other students, giggled, and tossed her hair.

"What?" asked Nessa and Elphaba sighed.

"That it's true what Glinda said to me last weekend," she said miserably. "I was supposed to do this in order to spy for Oscar, help him discover who is planning on blowing up the whole circus during the finale, and be an inside man. Or woman, I guess," she added, which made Nessa giggle slightly. "Instead, I'm spending all my time working on my manners and etiquette, on skills that have nothing to do whatsoever with the things I deem important in life, and on socialising with people I don't even really want to get to know. I feel like a doll, constantly dressing up and letting myself be judged by other people, and it's consuming so much of my time; yet I still haven't found out _anything_ about Bomb Threat Guy – aside from a very strong suspicion that it might be Morrible, but even for that suspicion I haven't found any proof yet."

Nessa placed a hand on her sister's arm comfortingly. "You'll get there, Fabala. These things are quite difficult. Going undercover on a mission for the Wizard is very hard in itself, because you have to blend in," she said. "Just… consider this training for the actual events – the live shows in a couple of weeks. All this beauty pageant stuff is just you training to not stand out among the other candidates and earning their trust so you can get them to give you information in a while that might help you catch the culprit."

That did, in fact, cheer Elphaba up a little. She hadn't thought of it that way before. "You know what?" she said in surprise. "You're right. I hadn't looked at it that way, but that does help. Thanks, Nessie."

Nessa smiled. "No problem, Fabala."

They watched for a while as Glinda played the perfect hostess to her little party, charming the TV crew and the students alike, and Elphaba had to grin at the display. "She looks like she was born in front of a camera."

"Who knows? Maybe she was," Nessa said and the sisters shared a quiet laugh. Nessarose had already been up in front of the camera earlier that day, so she was fairly relaxed, sipping her punch and enjoying the party. Elphaba, however, felt a little jittery at the prospect of still having to show off her talent. She had practised, of course, but she was still a little insecure about the whole thing. She just hoped everything would go okay.

As if he had read her mind, Fiyero came running towards the two. "Fae!" He skidded to a halt in front of them, slightly out of breath. "The TV crew asked me to get you. You're up," he said and Elphaba tensed, quickly turning to Nessa.

"How do I look?"

"You look great, Fabala," the younger girl assured her, but that didn't stop Elphaba from smoothing out some invisible wrinkles in her dress and nervously running her fingers through her hair. The movement was stopped, however, by Fiyero gently closing his fingers around her wrists.

"Fae," he said, bringing her hands down to clasp them against his chest. "You're beautiful."

She softened. "Thank you, Yero."

He smiled and kissed her gently. "Go and get them, hon. Show them something," he encouraged her and she flashed him a small grin.

"I'll try."

Glinda had helped her dress that morning, so she knew there couldn't really be anything wrong with her clothes – another petticoat, covered by a full, cream-coloured skirt that fell just below her knees. A modestly high neckline, long sleeves, and accents of red and black finished the picture, along with a pair of black ballet flats. The blonde had loaned her friend a red headband to keep her raven hair out of her face and Elphaba personally thought she lookedlike one of the dolls she'd been comparing herself with earlier, but she kept her thoughts on the matter to herself.

She took a deep breath. "Okay. Here goes nothing." She straightened and tried to walk over to the TV crew with an air of confident calm.

"Oh, Elphie!" Glinda cried. "There you are!" She linked arms with her roommate and smiled brightly at the camera. "As you probably know by now, we're roommates and we're very close," she said, smiling sweetly. "Elphie is really the sweetest person ever, aren't you, Elphie? She's refused to tell me about her talent, though, so I can't wait to see her show it to you!"

"Neither can we," Reven said excitedly. "Elphaba, do you need to prepare anything in advance for your presentation?"

The green girl shook her head. "Not really," she said. "I'll just need your band to step down from the stage, Glin."

"Of course!" Glinda hurried away to talk to the band and Elphaba gave the camera her best smile.

"What's it like rooming with Glinda, Elphaba?" Reven asked. "Are you two really such good friends?"

As Elphaba talked about her relationship with the pretty blonde, as well as the one with her sister, Glinda managed to make the band stop playing and they all came down from the stage the blonde had set up. Cashel then encouraged Elphaba to show them what she could do and she inhaled slowly as she walked over to the stage.

"What is she doing?" she heard Glinda hiss to Boq, Nessa, and Fiyero. "She's not going to _sing_ , is she?"

"Don't worry," Fiyero said and she could hear the grin in his voice. "She'll amaze you all."

Elphaba sat down behind the drum set. There were surprised murmurs and whispers from the people around her, including her friends; but she simply took up the drum sticks and searched out Fiyero's face in the crowd. He gave her a thumbs-up and she smirked at him before hitting the drums.

She played with a ferocity that had Fiyero suggest to the others in a low voice that she was probably imagining to be hitting Pfannee, Milla, and Shenshen with her drum sticks – or maybe the _Miss Emerald_ participants. It made the wheelchair-bound girl giggle, but Glinda and Boq didn't even hear him. They were staring open-mouthed as Elphaba performed a drum solo they had never thought their friend capable of performing. Nessa had known about Elphaba's ability to play drums from back in Munchkinland, but up until now, Boq and Glinda had had no idea the green girl had ever touched a drum stick in her life.

Cashel and Reven appeared to be quite enthusiastic about the whole thing and they nearly fell over themselves trying to get to Elphaba after she finished, bombarding her with questions about when she'd learned to play, and who had taught her, and where, and why, and how. She struggled to answer them the best she could, but Fiyero could tell she was uncomfortable. He wanted to step in to save her, but Glinda held him back.

"Wait," she whispered, shaking her head. "Let her have her moment in the spotlight. Does the _Miss Emerald_ crew know you and Elphie are together?"

"No," Fiyero said, puzzled by the question.

Glinda smiled in satisfaction. "Perfect. You must reveal that this weekend," she told him.

This did nothing to alleviate the prince's confusion. "Huh?"

Glinda heaved an impatient sigh. "We want people to like Elphaba, don't we? Well, in order for that to happen, we have to make sure she stands out. Last week, there was that whole newspaper story making her out to be some kind of hero. This week, it's her unusual talent. Next week, it will be your relationship. That way, she will continue to be interesting for the audience because she keeps surprising everyone in some way or another."

Fiyero stared at her. He wasn't the only one; Nessa was frowning slightly and Boq's eyebrows were raised.

"If I didn't know any better," the latter said, "I'd say you were Elphaba's campaign manager in this whole contest."

"I thought _you_ wanted to win," Nessa added. "Why are you helping Fabala?"

"Because she's my best friend!" Glinda protested. "And besides, she's not going to win. She doesn't even want to. She just needs to charm the audience to make it to the finale so she can catch Bomb Threat Guy or Woman, and I can help her do that. Charm the audience, that is. Not catch the bad guy. I'll leave that to her and Oscar."

Fiyero shook his head. This petite blonde girl just continued to amaze him.

* * *

Watching that Friday's _Miss Emerald_ episode was actually, Elphaba had to admit, a lot of fun. That afternoon after their classes, she, Glinda, Nessa, Fiyero, Boq, and Chistery all travelled to the Emerald City. They'd have to be there the next day for the recording of next week's episode and since Oscar was unable to leave the City again to come watch this week's episode with them, they decided to instead leave early and go to Oscar, who invited them to spend the weekend at the Palace.

The moment Oscar saw his daughter, he smiled widely and approached her, enveloping her in a hug before she even knew what was happening. "I'm proud of you," he told her, which left her rather speechless.

He let go again, still smiling. "You're doing great, Elphaba," he said, beaming at her. "Other than that little anger management problem you showed during the interviews, you've done a wonderful job. I never imagined this would go over so well."

"Thanks?" said Elphaba, feeling a little bemused. She wasn't even sure if she should take that as a compliment or as an insult. "You do realise you have only seen two episodes in total so far, right? For all you know, I've completely messed up this talent thing."

He grinned knowingly. "Not according to Dr Dillamond's letter, you haven't."

The Goat had been exceptionally proud of his brightest student after her display of drum skills in the courtyard at Shiz. He'd been talking of nothing else for at least two days afterwards, which left Elphaba slightly embarrassed, even though she also thought it was sweet of him. It was a shame he could not be here to watch the episode with them, but he had an important staff meeting to go to back at Shiz on Saturday, so he hadn't been able to come along.

Elphaba glanced at her father apprehensively. "And you're not mad about the whole newspaper article thing? You know – _Princess Elphaba stands up for minority groups_?"

He chuckled. "I won't pretend to be happy with the fact that all of Oz knows you have magical powers now," he said, sobering a little. "I'd rather have kept that as a surprise – a secret weapon in case we needed one. However, it's not a big problem and this article helps with our facade. To those who don't know you, it seems like you're taking this contest very seriously and that's all we really want, isn't it? As long as no-one has reason to suspect you are undercover for me, it's fine. I'm actually quite proud of you for standing up for your friends like that," he added, "although it could have been a little less… drastic."

She flushed and pointedly avoided Fiyero's gaze. Oscar chuckled again. Glinda just smirked knowingly.

They freshened up a little, had dinner, and then settled down in one of Oscar's many sitting rooms to watch the episode together. Oscar looked surprised when he noticed his daughter cuddling up to the Vinkun prince, Fiyero's arm going around her, and Glinda giggled at the older man's face.

"Aren't they cute?" she gushed. "It was about time they got together, don't you think?"

"When did this happen?" Oscar asked in bewilderment.

Elphaba, feeling herself redden a little, replied, "About a week ago."

"Aha." He still looked confused. "Well, I suppose that would explain your drastic reaction to that girl insulting his people in class."

The dark-haired witch was pretty sure her cheeks couldn't get any redder right now, but when Oscar directed a stern gaze at Fiyero, she groaned and buried her face in her hands in embarrassment. " _Don't_ , Dad."

"Young man," Oscar said, ignoring his daughter. "I like you, but I just want to say that I do hope your intentions with my daughter are honourable and –"

" _Dad_ ," Elphaba cut him off with another groan. "We've been together for a _week_. We've been on, like, _one_ date."

Fiyero gave her a questioning look and she shrugged at him. "Well, I don't count group dates and _you_ didn't want me to count study dates. I'm also not counting the time you rescued me from the contest craziness, because we weren't together yet then. So then it's only been one date, right?"

"Right," he agreed, mild horror dawning in his eyes at the realisation. "We seriously need to fix that."

Oscar cleared his throat loudly and Fiyero looked at his possible future father-in-law sheepishly. "Sorry, sir."

"As I was saying," Oscar began again, but this time he was shushed by Glinda.

"It's starting!"

"This conversation isn't over yet," Oscar whispered to Fiyero, but Elphaba pushed the prince aside so she could glare daggers at her father.

"Yes, it is."

"We'll see," Oscar threatened.

"Isn't it nice to see them have a normal father-daughter relationship?" Boq whispered to Nessa, making her giggle. Glinda shushed the two of them, too.

The girls' talents were being shown in random order, with commentary from Cashel and Reven on how they were all doing and some very short interviews with friends and family members to give the viewers at home some insight into the contestants' lives. First up was Nathalinia, whose talent was that she could spell any given word correctly. She had a tough crowd, with people giving her words that varied from 'smaragdine' and 'cymotrichous' to 'laodicean' and 'autochthonous'. She spelled them all right, however, and she got a polite applause afterwards. Her parents gave a short interview, gushing about how proud they were of their daughter.

Macy played the piano – not exceptionally well, but well nonetheless, and her friends were interviewed. There was a lot of eyelash-fluttering and giggling going on during this and Elphaba pretended to vomit, earning herself disapproving looks from Glinda, Oscar, and Nessarose and grins from Boq, Fiyero, and Chistery. Caila demonstrated her skills at archery, which were quite good.

"Now there's a talent that stands out!" Reven said enthusiastically about the performance. "Archery is something not many beauty pageant contestants have tried before, but it can be an elegant sport, as shown here by Caila. Let's see what her fellow students thought of this!"

The fellow students, of course, all praised Caila's talent.

"I wonder if anyone was interviewed saying something negative about the contestant," Elphaba muttered to Nessa, who shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. "I don't think anyone would dare look disagreeable on TV."

Elphaba smirked. "Unless they interviewed Pfannee and Milla about _my_ performance."

Nessa grimaced. "Let's hope they did not."

Saraphina was up next, singing a song rather beautifully, which made Elphaba sulk. She crossed her arms and glared at the TV. "Is there anything that girl is _not_ good at?" she demanded. "She's beautiful, she can sing, she can dance, she's talented in pretty much every way; popular, judging from these friends surrounding her, and she has a sweet boyfriend. The least I'd expect is that she'd have to be incredibly stupid or mean, but she's neither of those things, either. She's quite smart, actually, and nice, too. It's not fair."

"You're beautiful, talented, smart, and nice, too," Chistery offered, which earned him a smile that was grateful, but told him she didn't believe a word of it nonetheless.

"And you have friends," Glinda added.

"And a sweet boyfriend," Fiyero pointed out, giving her a puppy-eyed look, but he was disappointed by his girlfriend's reaction. She only rolled her eyes at him.

Micaela, being from Quadling Country, had chosen a typically southern talent and played the fiddle – somehow managing to make that look sophisticated and ladylike, too, which made Elphaba grumble some more about all those stupid girls being so stupidly talented at making every stupid skill look good. Nessarose showed off her embroidery, Faye danced, and Glinda was portrayed as the perfect party hostess, socialising with everyone, showing off the beautiful decorations and the great band as well as, of course, her perfect outfit. Umbia didn't do so well; she sang a song, too, but she was obviously very nervous and her voice shook throughout almost the entire song. Fortunately, her friends and family were very positive about her, emphasising what a sweet and quiet girl she was, which probably earned her some points with the audience again.

Karise, of course, had chosen a rather unconventional talent as well: knife-throwing. Elphaba thought it was brilliant, especially when it became clear that Karise had decided to show everyone her hatred for the whole beauty pageant competition by sticking pictures of dresses, make-up, and some of the other contestants' faces onto her targets. She managed to land a knife in Lunare's eye and one in Macy's nose. Glinda and Nessa were less amused by this, but Elphaba could appreciate it.

Lunare was up next, giving one of her friends a make-over to show how much insight she had into make-up, hair, and fashion, with her boyfriend giving a complete speech about how wonderful the girl was; and then, finally, it was Elphaba's turn. She had to admit that her playing the drums didn't even look too unladylike. It had a certain charm, as Glinda assured her. Showing off musical talent was not uncommon in beauty pageants, meaning Elphaba's skill fit with the whole thing, but playing drums was just uncommon enough for her to stand out among the other candidates – at least about as much as Caila, Karise, and Micaela did, in a positive manner at least.

Oscar was quite impressed as well. "You really are doing wonderfully, Elphaba," he assured her, smiling again.

"Thanks," she muttered. "I still hope it'll be over soon, though." She tilted her head a little to the side. "Did you know that Morrible is going to be in the judge panel for the semi-final and the finale?"

"I did," he said and she looked at him incredulously.

"Then why did we even get into this whole circus?" she demanded. "It's obviously she who threatened to blow the thing up!"

He frowned. "I'm not convinced of that, Elphaba."

"I am," she countered. "She's evil, Dad. Something like this would be just like her."

Oscar, however, shook his head. "I've considered it," he admitted. "I still am considering it. It could be her. It could also _not_ be her, however. I'm inclined to believe she wouldn't take such drastic measures. Besides, my security department has deduced from the handwriting that our culprit is most likely a man."

"Maybe she got some guy to write those threats for her," Elphaba persisted, but she could tell Oscar clearly wasn't convinced.

"Just keep an open mind about this, all right?" he asked her. "Keep looking around. It might be her, but we don't know that for sure and I won't risk something actually happening just because we were too short-sighted to look past the obvious."

She sighed, but nodded. "What if I don't find anything out before the finale?"

"Then we will cancel it after all," Oscar said calmly. "I hope that won't be necessary, but we won't risk anyone's safety here. If we don't catch our bad guy, the finale can't go through. It's as simple as that."

Glinda and even Nessa were very dismayed at this, but Elphaba was relieved. At least the lives of Oz-knew-how-many people didn't depend on her discovering the person behind this. Still, she was nervous. She had a bad feeling – a hazy vision, if you will – that something was going to happen. Something none of them would see coming.

* * *

 **Next up is chapter 13, which will feature your alter egos again. The poll is still open, although if you haven't voted yet, I'd suggest waiting until after the next chapter to do so.**


	13. Carried Away

**We'll just do the extra update now, then!**

* * *

 **13\. Carried Away**

"And that is why I have chosen Traum University's male swimming team as my charity," Lunare concluded her speech proudly. "Because they deserve to keep existing so many more girls can enjoy the view of handsome, muscular boys in nothing but swimming trunks."

Elphaba stared at the girl up on the stage. Lunare simply smiled sweetly, waved at the audience and the cameras, and then got down from the stage to make room for the next girl.

"This is so stupid it's not even worth an eye roll," the green girl said flatly.

Nessa giggled. "Oh, Fabala. Some of the girls did have good charities! Like Saraphina's orphanage, and Umbia's animal shelter…"

"Nathalinia's education programme, Caila's ideas to improve the judicial system…" Glinda added.

"…and Macy promoting a make-up brand?" Elphaba asked sarcastically, making her friends giggle again.

"All right, I see your point," Glinda conceded. She had already been up to talk about her own charity, which was a foundation that helped young girls who'd come out of prostitution get back on their feet. Next up was Faye, supporting the elderly; and after that, it was Elphaba's turn to present the Animal rehabilitation programme she had chosen as her own charity. Nessa, who had picked a programme on religious education, was to go up straight after her sister.

Elphaba would be happy once the presentations were over – she hated presenting before an audience and she hated listening to the other girls presenting even more. After that would come the intelligence test, which she didn't mind so much. If anything, she was looking forward to seeing some of the other girls' scores. That night, however, would not be much better than the afternoon, because the _Miss Emerald_ team had organised a party for the contestants, so they could celebrate the fact that there would be no more recording sessions. That Friday, the charity presentations and results of the intelligence test would be broadcast; and the week after that would be the semi-final, the first live show of the competition. Elphaba wasn't looking forward to that, either.

She felt like she wasn't so much living her life as that it was being lived for her. Between this pageant and her studies, she'd barely spent time with her friends (outside of _Miss Emerald_ settings) over the past weeks, just sitting together and talking or doing something fun. Not to mention the fact that in the week they'd been together, she and Fiyero had indeed only been on one date and the amount of conversations they'd had about what she imagined to be important relationship topics (again, not counting anything competition- or study-related) could be counted on one hand.

Glinda had already informed her that what she deemed important relationship topics really didn't matter all that much. "You and Fiyero already know one another so well," she'd assured her roommate. "You've been friends for a long time and it's clear that he adores you, Elphie. You don't need to have serious relationship talks every week or so in order to keep a relationship successful."

Elphaba had accepted that as the truth – even though Glinda had limited experience with lasting relationships, she still had far more experience in the relationship area in general than Elphaba herself did – but she still didn't like the fact that she and Fiyero had had so little time together. How was she ever supposed to figure out if a relationship with him could really work if she could hardly spend time alone with him?

She was jolted from her thoughts when Cashel announced her name and she quickly picked up the long skirt of her fancy, dark blue dress, climbing the few steps onto the stage and managing a brilliant smile at the idiot host as she stepped up in front of the microphone. She dutifully repeated the speech she and Dr Dillamond had rehearsed so many times, about the Animals having suffered and how good of an initiative this rehabilitation programme was, how proud it made her as the princess to be able to support such things, and how happy she was to help her father set up the programme to get the Animals back on their feet. After the fiasco of her interview, she didn't dare to say anything she hadn't rehearsed with Dr Dillamond, Oscar, or Glinda; but at the same time, she couldn't even talk about the Animals without getting worked up over their situation again. Dr Dillamond had assured her that a little passion was a good thing. She hoped Glinda and Oscar, not to mention the audience, would see it that way, too.

The rest of the afternoon flew by. The other contestants did well, too, and the intelligence test was a piece of cake for Elphaba. They were all sent away to have dinner and change for the party that night and Elphaba and her friends returned to the Palace with Oscar for that.

"Wonderful job, once again, Elphaba," Oscar congratulated his daughter as they ate. "You're really getting the hang of this."

She made a face, stabbing at her food. "Don't remind me."

"What will you wear to the party tonight?" Glinda asked and what followed was a discussion between her and Nessa about which dress would be most suitable for Elphaba to put on. The green girl herself merely continued to stab at her dinner, wishing with all her might that she was somewhere else. Anywhere. The only consolation she had was the sympathetic looks Fiyero shot her from across the table.

Thankfully, dates were allowed to be brought to the party, which meant both Boq and Fiyero would be joining the girls. That was bound to make the night slightly more bearable, at least. Glinda wasn't bringing a date, wanting to focus on getting to know the other girls.

Straight after dinner, Elphaba was whisked away to be poked and prodded from all angles for the next hour or so. Glinda forced her roommate into a simple but elegant dark red dress with long sleeves and a swirly skirt down to her knees, with a pair of tights and low-heeled boots underneath. Nessa braided Elphaba's hair on two sides of her head, bringing the two braids together at the back in a long, low ponytail, and stuck a red flower into her sister's hair while Glinda worked on Elphaba's make-up. After that, of course, Glinda and Nessa themselves had to get ready as well and by the time they were ready to go, Elphaba was already ready for the party to finish. She just hoped she'd be able to sneak off with a book at some point – or with Fiyero. Either of those would do.

* * *

Some of the girls, Elphaba discovered that night, were a lot more fun intoxicated than they were sober. By the time midnight rolled around, many of the contestants had had too much punch.

Of course, the punch provided by the _Miss Emerald_ committee was simply a lemonade made of lemons, melons, and pears; and this event, although private and only attended by the pageant participants and their dates, was supposed to be fancy and sophisticated. That, however, did not mean it wasn't like any other party in the sense that the punch got spiked, even though that probably only happened because some of the girls had brought their boyfriends and some of said boyfriends got bored. (Or, well, Fiyero got bored and Karise's boyfriend – of course – just happened to have a flacon of rum with him.)

"You know," Micaela was giggling, "I almost used an entirely different skill of mine for the talent part of the contest, but I figured that wouldn't be ladylike enough."

"What kind of talent?" asked Karise, her eyebrows raised. Elphaba could imagine how she felt. Micaela, doing something unladylike? They couldn't really see that happening.

When the girl opened her mouth next, however, both Elphaba and Karise gaped at her. They thought they'd been prepared for anything, but neither of them had expected Micaela to start belching the alphabet.

"Oh my Oz!" Lunare shrieked, half repulsed and half laughing. "That is _so_ gross!"

Micaela, however, had only arrived at 'H' by then, so she was unable to reply.

The boys were all roaring with laughter while most of the girls were dramatically freaking out. When Micaela finished her belching fest, all the boys plus Karise and Elphaba applauded. The others either looked exasperated, amused, or completely grossed out.

"I'm actually only doing this because every girl in my family has participated in _Miss Emerald_ so far," Caila said into her glass, sighing deeply. "It was expected of me."

"I've been bored about eighty per cent of the time when it comes to this contest," Faye admitted. "My mother, too, really wanted me to do this, because she never got the chance to when she was young; and I just couldn't disappoint her."

"I really hate dresses," Karise volunteered, grinning. She hadn't had much punch and she was still fairly sober – she was mostly having fun watching the other girls drunk, just like Elphaba herself was. Normally, such a remark would have made all the girls gasp in horror, but now they just laughed.

Macy turned out to be a depressed drunk; she dropped her glass of punch at some point and burst into tears. Elphaba had warned Nessa and Umbia against the spiked punch, so they didn't have any. Glinda, however, had been unable to resist and she was rather tipsy by now. She was currently dancing around with Saraphina and Nathalinia, both of whom were also slightly intoxicated, but not nearly as badly as some of the other girls.

"Hey, Micaela," said Karise, tilting her head a little to the side. "If you can belch the alphabet, can you also belch other things? Like… can you belch our names?"

Micaela took a large gulp of punch and then burped loudly, "Karise." Karise herself burst out laughing and Micaela joined in.

"This is ridiculous," Nessa muttered.

Umbia smiled slightly. "I think I like most of them better this way," she confessed and Elphaba laughed.

"I know I definitely do."

Suddenly, some of the boys appeared beside them. Fiyero bowed for Elphaba. "Milady. May I have this dance?" he asked her politely.

She rolled her eyes, but took his hand and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor. Faye and her boyfriend were dancing there now, too, and some of the others joined in as well. Saraphina and her boyfriend, Palu, were dancing close together, smiling and talking as they swayed; but most of the others were going completely crazy.

"It's a good thing Cashel and Reven aren't here," Caila observed. "They'd be horrified if they could see us now."

"They would be!" Faye agreed.

Umbia yawned, then quickly clasped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry."

"No-one cares," Caila assured her, chuckling.

Saraphina giggled. "If Micaela can burp, then you, Umbia, can definishly yawn."

"I need to fart," Macy said tearfully. "Would you all hate me terribly if I farted?"

Some of the other girls exchanged looks and Karise picked up the new glass of punch Macy had just poured herself and put it away. "I think you've had enough of that."

"Let's blow this party through the roof!" Micaela yelled loudly, waving her arms in the air. The other girls cheered.

Lunare added, "Just like the finale in a few weeks!", causing Elphaba's head to whip around.

"What do you mean?" she demanded.

Lunare slapped a hand over her mouth and giggled. "Oops. Sorry. I wasn't supposed to tell."

"Tell what?" Elphaba strode over to her, dark eyes burning. "What do you know?"

"Yeesh, no need to get intimidating, veggie," Lunare muttered indignantly, leaning back in her chair. "I just overheard Macy and some guy talking the other day about them having something very explosive planned for the finale. That's all. They made me promise not to tell."

Elphaba stepped back again, disappointed… or was she? Had Macy really been talking about some special effect to make the finale even more spectacular or was she in on the bomb threat and was she making veiled threats? How in Oz was she even supposed to know the difference? She decided she'd tell Oscar and Dr Dillamond about it and keep an eye – and ear – out for more information.

"Pfft," Lunare was sighing, still glaring at Elphaba. "You act like I just said I wanted to blow up the whole circus or something."

"I wish someone would!" Karise said with an unladylike snort.

Caila laughed. "Wouldn't that be something?"

Nessa looked cautiously at her sister, but Elphaba just sighed and shook her head at the younger girl. "Making half-drunk jokes about blowing stuff up isn't the same thing as actually planning on doing it," she reminded Nessa quietly.

"What if it is?" Nessa asked.

"Then Lunare, Karise, and Macy are all in on the attack," said Elphaba sarcastically.

Nessa giggled. "I can't imagine Lunare or Macy wanting to do anything bad to the competition."

"Me, neither," said her sister, grinning slightly.

Umbia joined them, Caila at her side. "We're going back to our hotels," she said. "It's getting late and we still need to travel quite a distance back home tomorrow."

Nessa nodded. "We should go, too," she said, glancing sideways at Elphaba.

The green girl heaved another sigh. "I'll go get Glinda and the boys," she muttered, stalking off to the dance floor. Fiyero was dancing with Saraphina, Glinda with Micaela and Nathalinia, and Boq was standing at the refreshments table.

Elphaba whistled on her fingers. "Guys and Glin. Home. Now."

"How do you put up with the bossiness all the time?" Boq demanded of Fiyero as the two of them made their way over to their friend.

The prince grinned and winked at Elphaba. "Oh, I can't say I mind so much when she's being bossy."

She stuck out her tongue and he chuckled, slipping his arm around her waist and kissing her lightly. "Did you have fun?"

She scowled and crossed her arms. "It was a _party_ ," she stressed. "What do you think? The only fun I had was in trying to figure out which girls were only joking about blowing up the beauty pageant and which ones were actually serious – not that I had much luck with that. Glinda!" she yelled. "Get over here! We're leaving!"

"But I want to stay!" the blonde whined.

Elphaba glared at her and she relented, sulking.

"You'll figure it out, Fae," Fiyero said to his girlfriend, squeezing her slightly. "I know you will."

She just sighed again. "I hope so."

"Are you leaving already?" Macy asked, looking on the verge of tears again.

Elphaba glanced at her. "Unless you want to tell me something about your plans during the _Miss Emerald_ finale," she said pointedly and Macy's mouth fell open a little.

"I can't," she said, pouting. "I have lots and lots of secret plans but if I tell you, you'll just steal my dress and my glitter and my spotlight and that's not fair. You'll see in two weeks!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "I wasn't talking about your dress, Macy." She leaned closer to the other girl. "I was thinking more along the lines of an explosion."

"Explosion?" she squeaked. Then she burst into tears again. "No! I'm too young to die! And too beautiful! I haven't won the title yet! I can't die until I'm Miss Emerald!" she wailed.

Glinda poked the brunette in the side. "Stop that, Macy. No-one is going to die," she said sternly.

Macy instantly stopped crying. "Oh."

"Leaving," Elphaba said through gritted teeth, turning around on her heels and pulling Glinda with her. She was sick and tired of this.

Micaela belched Elphaba's name, which made the green girl grin despite herself. "I honestly wish you _had_ chosen that as your talent for the show, if only because I would have loved to see everyone's reactions to it," she said.

Micaela giggled at her, nearly falling over when she tried to come closer. She had to grab Elphaba to keep herself upright and she giggled again. "You know," she said, swaying dangerously as she tried to whisper in Elphaba's ear. "I actually think you're really pretty."

Elphaba could feel herself blush a little, even though she knew this was probably just drunk talk. "Thanks, Micaela."

"I'm serious," the girl said… well, seriously. "I think all the girls are kind of jealous of you. You're pretty, and you stand out in the competition – in a good way – and you've got more balls than anyone else in this room. No offence," she said to Boq and Fiyero, glancing down once before looking up again with a sweet smile. The boys were both still standing beside Elphaba and both attempting to hold back laughter.

"None taken," Fiyero assured her.

"Speak for yourself," Boq muttered.

The prince ignored him. "We knew that already, anyway," he continued to Micaela. He pressed a kiss to Elphaba's temple. Saraphina and Nathalinia both exclaimed, "Aww!" and Elphaba felt her cheeks heat up once more.

"Right, we have to go," she said abruptly, turning around and stalking away. They quickly bade the other girls good-bye and then left, walking back to the Palace.

"Saraphina liked you," Glinda said to Fiyero as they walked. "Now that she got to know you better, she admitted you weren't nearly as bad as she first thought you were."

"Oh," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Thanks, I guess?"

The blonde giggled. "You're welcome."

Nessa stifled a giggle of her own. Elphaba rolled her eyes.

Once at the Palace, they found Oscar and Chistery still up discussing something and Elphaba was asked to join them while the others retired to their respective bedrooms. She spent the next hour or so reporting everything even remotely suspicious she had heard anyone say so far in the competition, but that didn't get them much further, either. Finally, the three of them went to bed as well, all of them feeling frustrated, but none of them knowing what else they could do.

* * *

 **Don't forget to vote on the poll on my profile! I'm closing it right before my next update, which will be in two days, so make sure if you haven't voted yet, you do so before then. :)**


	14. Nobody Wiser

**The poll has been closed!**

 **Please know that the intelligence test scores I gave your characters have absolutely nothing to do with what I think about your actual intelligence (just like the way I chose to portray your characters has nothing to do with what I think of you personally). It's a beauty pageant; I need some ditzy, stupid girls and some arrogant, snappy bitches.**

* * *

 **14\. Nobody Wiser**

After returning to Shiz the next day, Fiyero and Elphaba found their way back to the café of their first (unofficial) date. She was once again leaning with her back against his side, a book in her lap, and she only paused her reading every now and then to reach for the cup of herbal tea on the table beside her. Fiyero had his chin on her shoulder and his arms around her, occasionally sipping his own drink, but otherwise quietly reading along. Elphaba realised how sappy they had to look together, but she didn't really care.

Fiyero seemed to agree, because he murmured, "This is nice."

She turned her head to look at him. "Is it?" she asked, struggling to keep her voice even. She'd been thinking about this ever since the night before and she'd been afraid to ask, but now that he brought it up himself… She tried to make a joke of it. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather ask Saraphina if she would reconsider her decision to opt out of your arranged marriage?"

He drew away with a look of mild shock on his face. "What?"

"Never mind," she muttered, ducking her head and pretending to go back to her book. "Forget I said anything."

He sighed and put his chin back on her shoulder. "Fae," he said into her ear, "if I wanted Saraphina, I would have asked Saraphina to be my girlfriend. The same goes for Glinda, or Pfannee, or any one of those other girls I know still make you insecure." She started at that – she hadn't thought he knew that about her – but he just pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I want _you_ , okay? I've known you for about fifteen months now and we've been friends for over a year, but I must have been in love with you for almost just as long. Ever since we saved that Lion cub together."

She turned around again, blinking at him, and he gave her one of those lopsided grins she loved so much. "You'd better get used to me," he told her. "I'm not letting you go now."

She chuckled weakly, unsure if she believed him. He could probably tell – he always could – but he didn't call her out on it. Instead, he just touched her chin to bring her face closer to his and he kissed her, softly at first. She responded by kissing him back and wrapping her arms around his neck. She could feel one of his hands gliding up her back, combing through her hair and then tangling in it, cradling the back of her head to keep her close to him. They broke apart for air for a moment and the look she saw in his bright blue eyes convinced her, more than anything, that what he had just told her had to be true.

She pressed her lips against his again, muffling the surprised noise that escaped him. Normally, she would be embarrassed to be caught kissing in public; now, she found that she didn't care. They were in a faraway corner of a tiny café in a town they rarely visited. The only other people present were a single waitress and the barkeeper, both of whom had been ignoring the couple for most of the time, and two other guests who also seemed to be too wrapped up in one another to pay much attention to their surroundings.

Fiyero deepened the kiss, stroking her cheek with his free hand, and she pressed herself even closer to him. When they began to get starved for oxygen again, he instead started kissing down her jaw line to her throat, making her sigh his name.

"Yero…"

"Mmh?"

"I love you."

He pulled away so quickly she nearly fell off his lap, but his hands shot out to balance her just in time. She could feel herself flushing. She hadn't meant for that to slip out. Yes, she'd been _thinking_ it, but… wasn't it too soon? They hadn't even been together for two weeks yet. Sure, they'd been friends for much longer and he just admitted to her he'd been in love with her for nearly a year already, but still. She shouldn't have said that.

"Again," she said with a forced little laugh, "forget I said that. I seem to be saying a lot of things I don't mean today."

His face fell and she cringed. That hadn't really come out the way she'd wanted it to, either.

She didn't say anything, though, and neither did he. They were both still breathing hard from the kissing not much earlier and they just looked at each other for a while before Fiyero carefully helped her off his lap.

"It's getting late," he said, his voice neutral. "We should go back."

She nodded, not trusting her own voice, and took the hand he offered to help her up. She wanted to say something, to explain what she had meant, but she wasn't sure how.

They were both silent until they were sitting in the carriage, at which point Elphaba couldn't bear it any longer and blurted out, "I'm sorry."

He looked at her.

She averted her gaze. "I didn't mean it that way," she mumbled. "I mean… I _did_ mean it. That… well, that I love you. I just… felt like I shouldn't have said it, because it's too soon, and I don't usually say such things, and because I didn't even know if you feel the same way – I mean, you said you're _in_ love with me, but that's not really the same. Or is it? I don't know. I don't feel like I know anything at all about this stuff and it's driving me nuts, because you know how much I hate not knowing something. And now I'm babbling like an idiot and… and I'm just… well, I'm sorry."

He didn't say anything. When she finally dared to glance up at him, he was grinning.

"What?" she asked defensively. "Are you laughing at me?"

"I wouldn't dare," he assured her, drawing her into his arms and kissing her softly. "And I love you, too."

She blinked. "You do?"

"Absolutely." He kissed her again. "I know you don't know much about being in a relationship, Fae, but you're forgetting that I don't, either. We decided to figure it out together, didn't we?" Another kiss. "And I love you."

She chuckled slightly, feeling more relieved than she was willing to admit. "I love you, too, Yero."

* * *

Over the course of the next couple of days, Elphaba was glad to get some peace and quiet. That Friday, the final non-live episode of _Miss Emerald_ would be broadcast; and since the live semi-final wouldn't be until the Friday night after that, there wouldn't be any recording sessions or other pageant-related events. Of course, everyone still insisted Elphaba should look her best for any potential press lurking anywhere, but at least she could mostly just do her own thing.

That, of course, meant that aside from studying and spending time with her friends, she also went on another date with Fiyero. This time, he insisted on doing something a little more date-like and so one evening, they went out for dinner and then to see a movie at the local theatre. Much to her surprise, Elphaba found that she felt like she was actually getting used to this whole relationship thing. She was hardly nervous for their dates anymore, knowing Fiyero knew her and wouldn't do anything she didn't want him to. Somehow, both of them slowly relaxed into their new status as a couple.

On Friday, the next _Miss Emerald_ episode was on TV and they all gathered in Elphaba and Glinda's dorm room again, both Dr Dillamond and Chistery joining them this time.

"I can't believe next week will be a live show already," said Chistery, shaking his head. "It's gone so fast!"

"Not fast enough," Elphaba grumbled as she handed out drinks and then crawled onto her bed to settle down next to Fiyero for the show. "And besides, _I_ can't believe it's been five weeks already and I still haven't found anything out about who we're looking for."

Nessa sighed. "Fabala, we've been over this," she said patiently. "You'll figure it out."

"We'll all help," Fiyero offered. Nessa, Boq, Dillamond, and Chistery nodded. Glinda looked dubious.

"Helping you won't get in the way of my chances of winning this title, right?" she asked worriedly, making everyone groan and sigh her name in exasperation. "I'm serious! I can't be caught snooping around or anything. I'd be disqualified!"

"I'll do the snooping," Elphaba assured her friend. "Just… keep an eye out for anything strange. Maybe try to coax some people into talking to you."

Glinda nodded slowly, thinking it over. "I could do that."

The show began and Elphaba leaned against Fiyero, smiling a little when he put his arm around her and hummed the stupid intro tune into her ear. She elbowed him between the ribs, which made him gasp and Glinda shushed him.

The presentation of the girls' charities was entertaining to watch, even though a full five minutes were dedicated to some footage of Elphaba and Fiyero together and Reven and Cashel gushing about the relationship between Princess Elphaba, a promising _Miss Emerald_ participant, and the handsome prince of the Vinkus. However, it was the second part of the episode that Elphaba really perked up at: the results of the intelligence test.

"All the girls have taken an intelligence test," Reven was explaining to the viewers. "They have each been awarded a score between 1 and 100, based on the results of this test. A score of 50 is average among Ozians. The test in question is a highly reliable, government-approved test used by many schools and companies to judge potential students and employees on their intelligence, so our contestants' results do present quite a good image of their general intelligence!"

Glinda whimpered dramatically. Elphaba rolled her eyes.

Boq said casually, "Ten pieces of silver on Elphaba having gotten the highest score."

"I'm not taking that bet," Fiyero declined.

Dr Dillamond agreed. "Honestly, Master Boq, I think we _all_ know Miss Elphaba will probably have the highest score."

"We will now list the contestants' scores from lowest to highest!" Cashel chirped and everyone leaned forward a little.

"In the lowest place, with 38 points," Reven said, lowering her voice so as to increase the tension. "Macy Lezwis!"

Elphaba snorted a laugh, which made Glinda glare at her disapprovingly. On the screen, a picture of Macy was shown with her name, province of origin, and score in the bottom left corner.

"In eleventh place, with 40 points," Cashel continued, "is Micaela Kaunis!"

"Tenth place, 42 points, Faye Alis!"

"Ninth place, 44 points, Glinda Upland!"

Glinda let out an indignant squeal. "I scored lower than average?! How is that possible? I'm super smartified! The test must have been wrong!"

She continued complaining loudly, even as the others tried to shush her. Elphaba exchanged an exasperated look with Chistery. She glanced at the remote control and then back at the Monkey, raising her eyebrows meaningfully. Chistery, getting her hint, picked the thing up and handed it to her so she could turn the volume of the TV up, drowning out Glinda's indignant shrieks as she smirked slightly at Chistery.

On the screen, Reven continued stoically. "Eighth place, 47 points, Lunare Kaiara!"

"Seventh place, 51 points, Saraphina Bulok!"

"Sixth place, 52 points, Nessarose Thropp!"

Nessa looked pleased about that. Boq took her hand and smiled proudly at her.

"Fifth place, 54 points, Nathalinia Hearst!"

"Fourth place, also 54 points, Karise Fennows!"

"Third place, 59 points, Caila Westin!"

"And now," Reven announced, "the two girls with the highest scores – and I must say, these girls must be extremely smart! In second place, with a score of 70, is Umbia Zespri!"

"That means Elphaba Thropp is in first place," Cashel continued, beaming at the camera, "and the score she has received is positively ridiculous; but before we reveal what her score was, we will cut to the commercial break! We will continue in a few minutes!"

As Elphaba turned the volume down again, Boq shook his head in what was almost disgust. "I told you so," he grumbled.

Nessa gave him a warning look before glancing at her sister. "Congratulotions, Fabala," she said with a smile.

Chistery chuckled. "As if we didn't all know this would happen."

"Still," Dillamond said, also smiling. "Well done, Miss Elphaba."

Fiyero squeezed the green girl closer and dropped a kiss onto her hair. "I'm proud of you," he murmured to her. "Although I do wonder what score you got."

"100," Boq suggested, still looking grumpy.

Chistery laughed. "That's impossible. Isn't it, Dr Dillamond?"

The Goat nodded. "The scores of this test are designed so that no-one can ever get a score of 100 points," he explained. "I believe the highest score anyone has ever gotten in the history of Oz was 98 and that person was Oz's greatest genius. Of course, I cannot deny that Miss Elphaba is very smart…" He hesitated.

"…but I'm not a genius," she filled in for him with a little grin. "I know that. Just because I can top the year, doesn't mean I imagine myself one of the smartest people in Oz, Dr Dillamond. I don't mind. As long as my score is high enough to put those silly girls in their place, I'm good."

His eyes were twinkling behind his glasses. "I'm confident it is, Miss Elphaba."

"Aren't we all?" Boq asked rhetorically. His girlfriend gave him another look and he relented, sulking a little.

"What _is_ your problem?" Fiyero demanded, perhaps a little more forcefully than was strictly necessary. "Aren't you proud of her?"

Elphaba grinned slightly at his fierceness. "Yero…"

"His problem is that he took this test once and he got a score of 70, just like Umbia," Nessa told the others. "Which, since Elphaba won, means that she has gotten a higher score than he did."

"I could have told you that," Glinda said snippily to the Munchkin. "No offence, Boq – you're smart, but you never did manage to beat Elphaba's exam results."

"She is brilliant," Fiyero declared proudly. "I bet she did get a score of at least 90 points. Even if she's not a genius, she's pretty damn close to one."

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Oz, guys, please stop," she said sarcastically. "You're making me blush. Yero, it's not realistic to expect a score of 90 points or more. Only, like, the one percent smartest people in Oz get a score that high. Boq, it's not a competition – well, _this_ is, of course… the _Miss Emerald_ thing, I mean… but just because I got a higher score than you did, doesn't mean I'm actually smarter than you are. Maybe it's only a difference of one or two points, anyway."

"It's not," the Munchkin retorted. "Otherwise they wouldn't have referred to your score as 'ridiculous'."

"Boq, those people refer to _everything_ as 'ridiculous', or 'wonderful', or 'magnificent'," Elphaba pointed out. "They're incapable of using normal words to describe things. Besides, if they were to take the test themselves, they probably wouldn't get any higher than 40, if even that; so to them, my score would've been ridiculous even if it was only slightly above average."

"Manners, Elphie," Glinda snapped. She still looked upset over her own low score.

The commercial break ended and the show resumed. Glinda quickly stole the remote control back from her roommate and turned the volume up once more, her face betraying her anxious curiosity about Elphaba's result.

After a quick welcome back, Cashel held up one of his flash cards. "I have Miss Elphaba Thropp's score right here," he said dramatically. "In first place is Miss Elphaba Thropp from the Emerald City, with a score of…"

A big '89' appeared in the middle of the screen.

"…89 points! This score means that Miss Elphaba has gotten the highest score in the history of the _Miss Emerald_ elections," Cashel was chirping on the screen. "In fact, it means she is among the two percent smartest people in our beloved Oz! Congratulotions, Miss Elphaba!"

"Yeah," Boq said, clearly torn between pride and resentment. "Congratulotions, Miss Elphaba."

Glinda, Nessa, and Chistery all started talking at the same time. Dr Dillamond was all but gaping at the television, then at Elphaba, and then at the TV again.

Elphaba herself, however, barely blinked. Instead, she turned to Fiyero and said, "I told you I would never get 90."

The prince just spluttered something unintelligible.

* * *

 **The intelligence test and the way they score (the _x_ % smartest people in Oz thing) is inspired by the official Dutch test for intellectual giftedness. I figured Elphaba would probably be that smart. :)**

 **Favourite lines?**


	15. Being My Friend

**15\. Being My Friend**

"Elphaba?"

The young witch looked up, sniffling and wiping furiously at her cheeks when she saw Chistery coming in. She managed a weak smile. "Hi."

He came into the empty classroom and closed the door behind him. Then he tentatively approached her, perching on the desk beside her and touching her arm. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," she said, but he just gave her a sceptical look at that.

She heaved a shaky sigh. "It's just… this whole competition again," she confessed. "I know I'm being overdramatic about it, but I just can't help it. I feel like I'm failing by not being able to find the threat and I feel like I'm failing even more spectacularly at being a lady."

"Elphaba," the Flying Monkey said, mildly shocked. "You've got a ridiculously high score on the intelligence test, you did a wonderful job dancing at the ball, everyone loved your talent, and you've looked extremely pretty whilst doing all that. Why would you be failing at being a lady?"

Her smile was wry this time. "Thanks, Chis, but you know as well as I do that I'm not pretty," she said. "I completely messed up the interview and almost all of the other girls think I'm a joke. The viewers probably do as well. I never wanted to let their opinion get to me, but…" She shrugged half-heartedly. "I guess I underestimated what it would feel like, you know? I was prepared to be ridiculed, laughed at, and excluded – mostly for Glinda and Nessa's sake, so I could protect them. Now, though, I haven't done anything to protect them yet. I've only embarrassed them. And no matter how tough I always pretend to be, I'm not sure if I could take an audience of ten thousand people booing and throwing rotten fruit at me during the semi-final."

Chistery wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "They won't do that," he promised her. "They'll love you, I'm sure of it. They probably already do. Didn't you see that poll in the newspaper this morning?"

Elphaba shook her head and he smiled. "You're in the top 6, Elphaba."

She blinked at him. "Really?" she asked in disbelief and he nodded.

"They love you," he assured her. "Don't worry about that. I think it's very brave, what you're doing for your sister and your best friend, and you'll find out what's going on. You're too smart not to. You _did_ get a score of 89, after all."

The first hints of a grin appeared on Elphaba's face. "I did, didn't I?"

He grinned back at her. "You did. You'll be fine." He hugged her and she hugged him back.

"Thanks, Chistery," she sighed. "I guess I just needed a pep talk."

He smiled at her. "Anytime."

Just then, the door to the classroom opened and Dr Dillamond came in, looking a little surprised to see the two of them there. He noticed Elphaba's puffy eyes and his brow furrowed in concern. "Miss Elphaba? Are you all right?"

She waved him away. "Just a little _Miss Emerald_ -related breakdown," she said brightly. "Chistery helped me through it. I'm fine now."

The Goat smiled. "Good. You should be proud of yourself, you know," he told her, placing his briefcase on the desk and opening it. He pulled out that morning's _Ozian_ and held it out to Elphaba. "Page three, near the bottom."

She flipped over to the page he was referring to and quickly read the short background info on the poll results published there. As Chistery had said, it was right there, black on white.

"1, Saraphina," she read aloud. "2, Nathalinia. 3, Lunare. 4, Faye. 5, Elphaba. 6, Glinda." She looked up incredulously. "I came in higher than Glinda?!"

"Yes, you did!" Chistery sang.

Dr Dillamond chuckled. "I'm surprised your roommate hasn't confronted you about that yet."

"She did seem awfully gloomy when I saw her this morning before class," Elphaba recalled. "She hardly said three words to me. She's usually a morning person, but I just figured she'd slept badly or something."

She quickly took in the rest of the poll. 7, Caila. 8, Micaela. 9, Nessarose – she felt a little bad for her sister at that. 10, Macy. 11 and 12 were, quite unsurprisingly, Umbia (who had probably been deemed too shy and quiet by the audience) and Karise (the public could probably tell that she didn't really want to be in the competition at all).

"So you see," Dr Dillamond said with an encouraging smile, "you're not doing that badly at all. You're doing wonderfully, Miss Elphaba, don't worry."

She nodded, returning his smile.

"Now, I'm very sorry," he continued, "but I'm going to have to kick the two of you out of my classroom. Unless you want to follow the first year students' History class?"

Elphaba and Chistery quickly leapt to their feet and bade the Goat good-bye before leaving his room, hearing him chuckle as they did so.

* * *

With the first live show approaching, Elphaba found – much to her disbelief and frustration – that she could hardly focus on her schoolwork anymore. She kept thinking about the other girls, the potential threat, and all the lessons on beauty and etiquette she'd had. She was convinced she was going to mess it up completely. She'd probably trip over her heels, or say something stupid, or get caught by the cameras picking her nose or something. Not that she habitually picked her nose, but still.

When she voiced those thoughts out loud to Fiyero, he just laughed, pulled her closer, and kissed the top of her head. "Fae, I've never even seen you pick your nose and of all people, _you_ would be the last person able to say something stupid, Miss 89 Points."

She made a face at him. "You know what I mean."

"I have faith in you," he said, which made Glinda say quietly, "Aww". Elphaba glared at her roommate, who quickly took another sip of her iced tea and turned her attention to Boq and Nessa instead.

"I'm nervous, too," Nessa admitted. "I'm afraid I'll get eliminated right at the beginning or that something embarrassing will happen with my chair."

Chistery reached out to pat her hand. "You'll be fine. All of you will be," he said to Glinda and Elphaba.

"What's the plan for the weekend, anyway?" Boq asked curiously.

Glinda replied almost absently – by now she knew the entire _Miss Emerald_ schedule by heart. "We're excused from class on Friday, because we'll be travelling to the City on Friday morning. There'll be lunch and a chance for the girls to spend some time together before we go into preparations for that night. The live show begins with a presentation of all twelve girls and an elimination of six of them, based on the votes from the Ozians at home."

Boq whistled. "That's harsh. So half of the girls have to go to the City, only to be eliminated instantly?"

"Pretty much," Elphaba muttered. "Then again, that's not the most ridiculous thing about this competition."

Glinda ignored her. "The judge panel is introduced and the six remaining girls do a short interview with Reven and Cashel. The judges then send two more girls home."

Nessa took over. "The next day, on Saturday, we all get a day of sightseeing in the City – all expenses paid for by _Miss Emerald_ – and on Sunday morning, we'll be returning home."

"So the finale will be with only four girls?" Fiyero asked and Nessa and Glinda both nodded.

"Yes, although the eliminated girls will all be coming to the City as well to be in the audience, along with all the girls' families," said Nessa.

"And a whole lot of impressive Ozians and press," Galinda added.

"Which is why Bomb Threat Guy or Woman is going to strike then." Elphaba grumbled. "I really hope I'll be able to catch the creep this Friday so at least I won't have to sit through the torture of that finale on stage."

Glinda flared up at that. "Excuse me, Elphaba, but some of us actually _want_ to reach that finale!" she snapped. "Some of us actually think this contest is important and we would like to win! You'll make it to the finale without even having to put any effort into it and you're not even grateful!"

"No effort?!" Elphaba echoed incredulously, her dark eyes shooting fire. "How dare you even suggest that? Have you _seen_ how hard I've had to work for this? Contrary to what you might believe, Glinda, not everyone was born to be in the spotlight and there are more important things in life than to be the prettiest girl in Oz!"

"Such as what?" the blonde snarled. "Being the smartest? How is that any different?"

"Ladies!" Fiyero cut in. "Please!"

"You're all under a lot of stress right now," Boq tried to soothe everyone. "Many things are happening and you're nervous about Friday, so you're all a little on edge. Calm down. Elphaba, you know how important this competition is to Glinda. Glin, _you_ know how hard Elphaba worked to fit into the contest, so don't say such things to her."

Both girls crossed their arms. Glinda huffed and Elphaba scowled, leaning back in her seat. Fiyero wrapped his arm around the green girl and squeezed her closer; she gratefully leaned back against him, giving him a quick smile. He kissed her softly, effectively melting both her and Glinda, who clasped her hands together and went, "Aww," again.

Chistery chuckled at that. Nessa shook her head with a smile. Boq rolled his eyes.

The days passed slowly like that, with Glinda and Elphaba bickering a little more than usual, Nessa constantly acting anxious, and the boys and Chistery all trying to support the girls the best they could. Fiyero tried to ask Elphaba out on a date again, but she turned him down.

"I'm sorry, Yero," she said apologetically, "but I really can't afford to lag right now. I need to _not_ embarrass myself on live TV this Friday and that means I need to practise more walking in heels, not to mention prepare for the possible questions they'll ask me during the short interview; and tomorrow afternoon, Glinda is taking Nessa and me shopping for cocktail dresses, since we'll have to wear those during the show."

Disappointed, Fiyero asked, "Have you changed your mind about not wanting to win?"

She gave him a look. "No," she said. "Of course not. But just because I'm not trying to win, doesn't mean I can act like my usual self in front of the whole country. I still need to make it believable that I'm in the semi-final – possibly even the finale – and make a good impression as the princess, and that means trying my hardest to keep fitting in with the other girls."

"I don't like you fitting in," he muttered, slipping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on the top of her head. "You're too special to fit in."

She almost made a wry remark about her skin, or her magic, or any of the other things she thought made her 'special' in a none too positive way; but she knew him and the tone he was using well enough to understand he meant it as a compliment, so she swallowed her words and instead hugged him back. "You're sweet, Yero."

As if he'd read her mind, he asked in surprise, "What? No 'yes, of course I'm special, I'm the only green person in Oz'?"

She chuckled. "Last time I did that, you complained I never let you compliment me without commenting on it. I was trying to keep that in mind."

"Aw, but where's the fun in that?" Fiyero playfully poked her in the side, making her squirm. He laughed and wrapped his arms around her again, planting a kiss on her lips. "Just kidding, hon. In fact, it means a lot to me that you're remembering such things and trying to change them. Don't get me wrong – I don't want you to change yourself for me. Not at all. But such little things as letting me compliment you without complaint, or allowing me to hold your hand in public… Well, I like that."

"I'm trying," she said and he smiled.

"Which is exactly why I like it," he said. "Knowing you, I know how scared you must be of this – uncharted territory you can't learn about in books – so it means even more to me that you're trying to make it work despite that. To be completely honest with you, I was convinced you weren't even going to give me a chance."

She looked shocked. "Why would you think that?"

He raised his eyebrows at her and she looked down sheepishly. "Yeah, okay, I can see why you would think that," she admitted. "But… well, I decided to just look at it as a challenge. And you know me – I can never turn down a challenge."

He grinned. "That's one way to look at it." He kissed her again and then pulled away. "Fine. I'll leave you alone to practise, then. But when we get back from the City, I'm taking you on a date, whether you like it or not," he warned her and she laughed.

"Deal."


	16. Unadulterated Loathing

**Hurray for LifelongLeahstar for being the 100th reviewer of this story! Virtual dessert of your choice to you!**

 **Thanks for the reviews, guys. All of you. I write because I love doing it, but it means so much when other people choose to read the things you've written and actually like them, too - let alone let me know that they do!**

* * *

 **16\. Unadulterated Loathing**

"I'm _so_ excited for tonight!" Faye gushed. All twelve _Miss Emerald_ contestants were sitting around a long table in the back room of a small, stylish restaurant, having lunch together before they would start their preparations for the show that night. This time, no other people – boyfriends or others – were allowed with them. This lunch was solely meant for the participants to share some time together.

"It's all been so wonderful already," Nathalinia said with a smile. "Not just the attention or the cameras, even though that was nice. Just… meeting all of you, and all these other new people, and seeing new places…"

"I'd never been to the Emerald City before this competition started," Caila confessed. "I love it here. It's so… Ozmopolitan!"

Elphaba and Glinda exchanged a look across the table, remembering their own first time in the City – and its aftermath.

"I think it's way too crowded," said Karise. "It's not my thing at all. I'm more of a country girl."

"Me, too," Micaela agreed.

Faye shook her head. "You two grew up in Quadling Country," she said. "You're probably not used to city life at all."

"Neither am I, being from Munchkinland and all," Nessa admitted. "I would never want to live in the Emerald City, either, but I do like it here."

Macy was nearly bouncing. "Oh, I can't _wait_ for tonight! I bet I'll make it to the finale. I mean, who can deny that I'm the prettiest girl in Oz?" She smiled, an air of self-importance about her. "If I don't, I guess I'll just have to take drastic measures – but I'm sure I will. I'm so excited!"

"I know, right?" Faye sighed happily, ignoring the rest of Macy's tirade – just like they were all doing, even though Elphaba had perked up at the mention of 'drastic measures' and was eyeing Macy suspiciously.

Lunare quirked an eyebrow at Faye. "Two weeks ago at the party, you were saying you've been bored most of the time during the contest and that you're only in because you couldn't disappoint your mother."

Faye shrugged. "It's been growing on me," she said. "Besides, the live shows seem far more exciting than the recording sessions we've had so far. I'm allowed to change my mind, aren't I?"

Macy frowned at her. "Yes, well, some of us have been fighting for this from the start," she said. "I do think we should have the advantage over the girls who don't – or didn't – even really want to be here."

"But the competition has nothing to do with the contestants' motives," Nessa pointed out. "Only with their looks and talents." Umbia, who was once again sitting beside her, nodded in agreement.

"Is that fair, though?" Glinda asked a little too loudly. She glanced at Elphaba once, so quickly the other girls probably didn't even notice. "Personally, I wouldn't think it would be fair if someone wins the competition who only participated because of family pressure or something like that."

Macy and Lunare agreed. Nessarose frowned slightly, but didn't say anything; Faye looked down at her plate and Nathalinia placed a comforting hand on her arm. None of the other girls said anything, although Elphaba could tell they were all uneasy.

"Regardless," said Elphaba, calmly taking a sip of her drink, "it's not like the fact that some of us do or do not find it fair will change anything about the outcome, is it? Miss Emerald will be chosen by the people of Oz and the jury panel. That's it."

"No-one asked _your_ opinion, veggie," Macy snapped.

"Hey!" Saraphina said indignantly. "Don't talk to her that way!"

"Better a veggie than a bitch," Karise added, which caused Macy to go red in the face.

Nathalinia tapped her glass with her knife, silencing everyone. "Girls, can we try to keep things friendly?" she asked, looking around the table. "We're stuck with each other for today and another day next week and I'd like us not fighting our way through that."

"Well said," Caila approved. Most of the others nodded, although Macy angrily pressed her lips together and Elphaba crossed her arms.

"Let's talk about something else," Nessa suggested.

"Yes!" Lunare jumped on the opportunity. "You should all see the dress I've chosen for tonight! It's a real Gracie Crarter!"

Gasps came from various sides of the table. Glinda and Faye looked nearly green with jealousy, Macy looked angry, and Nathalinia, Nessa, and Caila looked decidedly envious. Elphaba, for her part, had no idea who Gracie Crarter was, although she supposed it must be some famous fashion designer.

"Mine is from Dawson Keezy," Saraphina said, smiling widely. "My parents got it for me."

More exclamations of jealousy, although this name didn't mean anything more to Elphaba than the previous one.

Caila said, "I had mine specifically designed for me, by a seamstress from my home town." She shrugged. "It's no Gracie Crarter or Dawson Keezy, but it's unique."

"That's such a wonderful idea!" Faye exclaimed. "I wish I thought of that!"

"Me, too," said Glinda gloomily. "I just went shopping in Shiz."

Elphaba huffed. "Come on, Glin, you bought a beautiful dress that cost more than I normally spend on clothes in an entire year!"

"That probably doesn't say much," Macy muttered under her breath.

Elphaba ignored her. "Besides," she continued to Glinda, "you look wonderful in anything."

"Oh, thank you, Elphie," the blonde said, smiling. Her smile quickly faltered, however. "Still – hearing about all your dresses, I'm not so sure about mine anymore."

Nathalinia shook her head. "I just went shopping in town for a dress, too," she told Glinda.

"So did I," said Faye.

"And Nessa and I," Elphaba added. "As you know, because you were there to help pick our dresses."

"I borrowed a dress from my cousin," Micaela said without the slightest hint of embarrassment. "It's a beautiful one, too. What does it matter where you got it? As long as you think you look good in it, right?"

Most of the girls agreed on that.

Nessa turned to Karise, who had been suspiciously quiet during the whole conversation so far. "What about you, Karise?" she asked kindly. "What does your dress look like?"

"Another cupcake?" Elphaba joked.

Karise grinned a little at that. "Not really." She made a face. "More like an iced lemon cake this time."

Everyone laughed, even though Karise protested, "That's not funny! I'll look ridiculous!"

"And yours, Umbia?" Caila asked in interest.

Umbia blushed a little when everyone looked at her. "Oh… mine is nothing special," she said shyly. "Just something I found in a store a few weeks ago that I couldn't resist."

"Well, I can't wait to see all your dresses," Nathalinia declared and the others agreed. Just for a little while, at least, they were all relaxed and friendly with one another.

Elphaba wondered how long that would last.

* * *

Elphaba turned out to be right: Glinda did look wonderful in her sky blue dress. The colour brought out her eyes and with her feet in sparkly heels, make-up on her face and her hair curled, she looked like a fairy. Nessa, in comparison, looked like the spring to Glinda's summer – a little less bright in a flowy, pale green dress, but beautiful nonetheless.

Umbia was once again wearing dark red and when Elphaba asked her about it, the girl admitted that it was her favourite colour.

"I can see why," said Elphaba. "With your dark hair and skin, it looks beautiful on you."

Umbia blushed and thanked her. Glinda, who was in earshot, squealed.

"Oh my Oz, Elphie, did you just notice the way the colour of Umbia's dress complements her complexion?" she demanded, throwing her arms around her friend. "We'll make a lady out of you yet!"

Elphaba just rolled her eyes, smoothing out her skirt and thinking for the umpteenth time that night how uncomfortable she felt in a dress that only reached her knees.

Glinda had insisted on Elphaba's dress being princess-like in order for the green girl to remind everyone of who she was. To this purpose, she'd pressed on Elphaba a white, strapless dress with a bodice covered in silver sequins and a tulle skirt that flared out a little to her knees. Despite the fact that it was not her style at all, Elphaba had to admit she felt beautiful in it. She was wearing white heels with straps criss-crossing over her feet, some simple silver jewellery, and a silver headband to keep her slightly curled hair out of her face. The headband, Glinda had explained, gave the impression of a tiara, matching her status as princess. The blonde had also smeared some silver sparkles around the young witch's eyes and darkened them with eye liner and mascara, making them pop. As the finishing touch, she'd applied some lip gloss to Elphaba's lips, thus keeping her make-up natural and chic at the same time.

The girls were all milling around backstage, ready in terms of dress, hair, and make-up, but still mentally preparing themselves. There were about fifteen more minutes to go until the start of the show and anxiety and nerves hung in the air, feeling almost tangible.

No-one but the contestants and the people involved with the show itself – the make-up and hair experts, the hosts, the judge members, and the people taking care of sound and light – were allowed backstage. Even Oscar and Chistery weren't allowed to be here, although they would both have a seat in the audience, as well as Fiyero, Boq, and Dr Dillamond.

Karise glowered as she came to stand next to Elphaba. She was wearing a puffy dress in various shades of yellow and gold, with glitters and sparkles all over. The green girl had to fight the urge to shade her eyes and she cleared her throat. "Nice dress, Karise."

"Don't lie to me," Karise said menacingly, holding up one finger. "I told you, I look like an iced lemon cake."

"Frankly, I was thinking more along the lines of a sparkly, gold-flecked banana," Elphaba said with a straight face and Karise huffed a laugh.

"Or that."

Lunare and Faye turned out to be wearing dresses in the same colour. Elphaba didn't really see what the problem was; Lunare's dress had off-shoulder straps, beading on the bodice, and a full skirt that swirled around her knees, while Faye's dress was simpler yet elegant, fitted with long, lace sleeves. Aside from the fact that both dresses were pink (Lunare's a pale pink and Faye's something leaning more towards fuchsia), there was hardly a similarity to be found. Apparently, though, the colour issue was a huge problem and the girls were soon fighting over it in the dressing room, shouting at one another.

"You've been mean to me this whole time already!" Faye accused, tears in her eyes. "What have I ever done to you?"

"Oh, please!" Lunare scoffed. "Don't play the victim here! As if you're such a saint!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Lunare pointed an accusing finger at Faye. "You've been a hypocrite from the start! First you say you don't want to be in the competition at all and then you're oh so excited for the semi-final. I've seen you, acting all innocent and batting your eyelashes at everyone, but you can't fool me with that humble act! You're a devious, manipulative little slut!"

Faye, along with several of the other girls, gasped.

"You're just as bad as the rest of us," Lunare continued. "We're all here to win the crown. At least I admit openly that I will go far to get it and that yes, I've been trying my hardest to win people over. _You_ are always pretending to be modest and coy, but deep down inside, you're no less of a bitch than I am!"

"At least she admits she's a bitch herself, too," Karise muttered to Elphaba, who huffed a laugh in agreement.

"Girls, please," Nessa said pleadingly. "Don't fight."

"We all want the same thing and it's a competition," Saraphina added, "but that doesn't mean we have to be mean to each other about it."

Faye stuck her nose into the air. "Saraphina is right," she said. "Let's be mature about this, Lunare. I don't have a problem with you. We're wearing the same colour today and that's an unlucky coincidence, but it doesn't have to be a problem, does it?"

"There you go again with the aren't-I-good routine!" Lunare sneered. "Just stop! It makes me sick!"

"I refuse to rise to the bait," Faye said calmly and a little haughtily, turning away. "If you can't be mature about this, I at least will be."

"You want mature?" Lunare lashed out and slapped Faye across the face. "How's that for mature?" she asked smugly.

Faye then seemed to discard all her ideas about being mature as well, because before Lunare knew it, the other girl was flying at her and yanking her hair. Lunare screamed and tried to scratch Faye with her long nails. Karise was grinning excitedly at the spectacle and started chanting, "Fight, fight, fight!". Micaela and Macy joined in. Nathalinia shot Karise a look, which went ignored by the dark-haired girl. Saraphina, Caila, and Glinda looked horrified, Nessarose disapproving, and Umbia could only stare at the fighting girls.

"Maybe someone should get Cashel and Reven," Umbia suggested tentatively and Caila nodded at her.

"I'll go."

By the time the hosts came running, Faye was holding fists full of red hair and Lunare had ripped the sleeve half off the other girl's dress. Both of them were still shrieking and clawing at one another. There was a handprint on Faye's cheek and both girls had cuts on their arms and faces from where they had scratched one another.

Needless to say, Reven and Cashel were absolutely horrified and scolded Faye and Lunare for fighting even as they pried them apart. Reven took Faye with her to the seamstress to quickly have her dress fixed, while Cashel called for someone from the make-up department to help cover Lunare's injuries. The redhead was obviously still fuming, but she didn't say anything else.

"Here, let me help with your hair," Saraphina offered timidly, grabbing a hairbrush. Lunare gave her a grateful look via the mirror and Saraphina got to work, Nathalinia soon joining her to help cover up the spots where Faye had pulled out some hair. Between the two of them, they managed to re-arrange Lunare's hair into a pretty updo once again and Lunare thanked them both as well as the make-up artist who'd managed to cover up all the scratch marks.

Faye soon returned as well, her dress restored to its former glory; and as the same make-up artist hurried towards her, Glinda and Caila took it upon themselves to fix _her_ hair. By the time the girls were all supposed to start heading towards the stage, both Lunare and Faye looked presentable once again and they were ignoring one another completely as they all walked in a row.

Glancing around her at the other girls, Elphaba took a deep breath. This was it, then. She had two main jobs tonight – paying attention to everything and everyone to try and discover something about the threat and attempting to not look like a complete fool as she did so. She looked at Nessa, who was wheeling herself forward beside her sister. Feeling Elphaba's gaze on her, she looked up and smiled encouragingly. Elphaba smiled back, straightened her back, and exhaled slowly. She was ready for the game to start.


	17. Moral Ambiguities

**17\. Moral Ambiguities**

"Ladies and gentlemen," Cashel announced, "please welcome the final twelve contestants of the _Miss Emerald_ competition. From Munchkinland, Miss Nessarose Thropp and Miss Macy Lezwis!"

Macy walked on in her little black dress, blowing kisses and waving at the audience. Nessa wheeled herself after the other girl, nodding and smiling.

"From Quadling Country, Miss Micaela Kaunis and Miss Karise Fennows!"

Karise marched, rather than walked, onto the stage in her golden heels and banana-lemon cake dress, waving half-heartedly. Micaela beamed as she followed her in a much more dignified manner.

"From the Glikkus, Miss Caila Westin and Miss Umbia Zespri!"

Caila smiled demurely as she walked, Umbia right beside her. The caramel-skinned girl looked much more uncomfortable than her paler counterpart, but she, too, managed a smile and a little wave.

"From Gillikin, Miss Lunare Kaiara and Miss Glinda Upland!"

This duo was quite entertaining to watch, because it looked like Lunare and Glinda were competing with one another for who was the most charming as they walked onto the stage. Lunare, like Macy, blew kisses at the audience. Glinda twirled a blonde curl around her fingers and gave the people a beaming smile. Lunare giggled and swished her hips as she walked. Glinda tried to make eye contact with as many people as she could and gave them little waves that looked almost seductive.

Once the two had finally made their way to the centre of the stage and had joined the line of other girls already standing there, Cashel announced, "From the Vinkus, Miss Faye Alis and Miss Saraphina Bulok!"

Both of them looked poised and elegant as they walked across the stage, smiling and waving, but not acting like complete idiots as some of the others had.

"And finally, from the Emerald City, Miss Nathalinia Hearst and Miss Elphaba Thropp!"

Elphaba took a deep breath, suddenly feeling nauseous; and Nathalinia, picking up on it, reached out to lace her fingers through Elphaba's and squeeze her hand reassuringly. Elphaba gave her a grateful smile, which the dark-skinned girl returned; and the two of them walked onto the stage together.

The sudden light when they stepped out from between the dark curtains on the side of the stage was blinding and the noise ear-shattering. Elphaba squinted against the bright lights, slowly coming to notice the people in front of her. It looked like an ocean of people, standing on the floor below the stage, sitting on chairs on the sides and at the back, the floor going up so everyone could see the stage well. They were all clapping and cheering for the twelve contestants.

Ten thousand people.

Her nausea returned and judging from the baffled look on Nathalinia's face, she was a little unprepared for this, too. They kept holding hands as they walked over to the other contestants. Nathalinia waved, but Elphaba was too dumbstruck to be able to focus on anything else than just moving one high-heeled foot in front of the other.

"My sweet, sweet girls," Reven said, smiling at least as brightly as most of the contestants. "Here you are. You made it this far and during the past month, you've been proving yourselves to the public. You've attended several events, presented your skills and charities, taken tests and interviews, and held your heads high when faced with the press and the cameras. I think I speak for all of Oz when I tell you that we are very proud of you."

The audience cheered again – loudly. It was all rather overwhelming to Elphaba, although some of the other girls were obviously basking in the attention.

"Tell me, Miss Caila," Reven said, stepping up beside Caila. "Which part of the competition so far did you like best?"

She thought about that for a moment. "Presenting my talent," she finally decided. "I loved sharing my passion for archery with the rest of Oz."

Reven nodded, moving on. "What about you, Miss Faye?" she asked.

Faye smiled, not at all looking bothered anymore by her earlier fight with Lunare. "Oh, I think for me it would be a tie between the presentation of talents and the ball," she said with a giggle. "Then again, I got to dance during both, so that's probably why. I love to dance!"

"The ball was rather wonderful, wasn't it?" Reven agreed. "Miss Elphaba, was that your favourite part of the competition, too?"

Elphaba shook her head. "Not quite," she said with the tiniest hint of a smirk. "My favourite part was the intelligence test."

Reven laughed. "Well, that's certainly different – although with a score such as the one you got, we can't blame you!" The audience applauded in agreement.

Cashel moved in as well now. "How do you think your life will change if you win the title, Miss Lunare?"

"Oh," Lunare gushed, "it would most definitely be the biggest achievement of my entire life! I couldn't dream of anything I want more in the world!"

"That's a clear answer," Cashel said into the camera with a chuckle. "Miss Umbia – why do you think you have what it takes to be Miss Emerald?"

Umbia looked startled to be singled out, but she replied nonetheless, after a thoughtful pause. "I think… I think I'm probably not the most obvious choice," she said slowly. "There are girls here who are prettier and more talented than me, and almost all these girls are better in the spotlight than I am. But… it does make me unique, doesn't it? Maybe the people at home like the fact that I'm quiet and a little shy in comparison with the other girls."

Cashel smiled at her encouragingly. "Maybe they do, Miss Umbia. Maybe they do."

"Miss Nessarose," Reven continued. "Do you think the fact that you are in a chair diminishes your chances in the competition?"

Elphaba could tell that her sister felt a little indignant at the question, but she did a wonderful job keeping her face neutral. "I don't know," she said, smiling politely. "I can only hope the people of Oz have been able to look past my chair and see me for who I really am."

The two hosts moved away from the girls and Cashel turned back to the audience and the cameras.

"As these girls were each trying to prove to the people that they are deserving of the title of Miss Emerald," Cashel said solemnly, "the viewers at home have voted for their favourites based on your performances on TV last month. Tonight, we must start this spectacular semi-final with an elimination of half of all the girls standing before us tonight."

This time, the audience booed.

"These twelve girls are all wonderful, talented, and worthy of the title; but there can only be one Miss Emerald!" Raven sang. She handed half of the pile of flashcards she was holding to Cashel and then cleared her throat. "I am sorry, girls, but six of you will have to leave us again right away."

Cashel moved to the other end of the line. "Once more, a huge applause for these twelve beauties!"

Cheers. Clapping. Some people even stomped their feet.

"And now, let's not put this off any longer." Reven looked solemnly into the camera. "We will now announce, in completely random order, the names of the girls who did not make the top 6."

The cheerful music changed and became ominous, the lights on the stage dimming. Each girl was now standing in a small, circular pool of light.

Cashel looked at the audience and then turned to face the girls. "The first girl who will notbe joining the rest of the semi-final today is…"

A few beats of silence.

"Caila Westin."

Caila's light went out, leaving her in the dark, but not before Elphaba could see the crestfallen look on her face. The audience booed in disappointment.

Reven looked at the girls now. "The second girl who has not made it to the top 6 is…"

Again, silence.

"Karise Fennows."

This time, too, there were some boos from the audience as Karise's form went dark; but Elphaba grinned a little at the way Karise's shoulders slumped in relief. She looked decidedly happy about being eliminated and as if she read Elphaba's mind, she glanced over at the green girl and pretended to wipe some sweat from her forehead. Elphaba, still grinning, shook her head, and Karise grinned back and raised both thumbs at the dark-haired witch.

"The third girl," Cashel said, "who has not gotten enough votes from the viewers is… Macy Lezwis."

Macy looked positively outraged at that. "That's not fair!" she cried, even as her light went out. "I did everything right! I'm the _perfect_ Miss Emerald!"

"Miss Macy," said Reven disapprovingly. "Please calm down or I will have to ask you to leave the stage."

Macy clenched her jaw and didn't say anything else, but she still looked like she was fuming.

"The fourth girl not in the top 6 is…" Reven looked up from her card. "Umbia Zespri."

More boos. Especially after Umbia's little speech just now, Elphaba suspected people must like her. _She_ liked Umbia, too, and she felt a little bad for her. Thankfully, Umbia herself didn't seem too sad – just resigned.

"The fifth girl who has to leave the competition at this point is…"

It was like everyone was holding their breath. With only two more eliminations, the girls all knew there was a big chance they had made it, but they could still get sent home now. Well, all of them except for Elphaba, of course.

"…Lunare Kaiara."

Lunare, too, looked very angry at that. The light above her head went out and she seemed about ready to explode, although she, at least, had the grace to not start complaining about her elimination on the stage in front of ten thousand people. Her anger, however, intensified visibly when Cashel announced the final eliminated candidate.

"Micaela Kaunis."

Micaela definitely looked disappointed as she came to stand in the dark as well.

"This means our six semi-final candidates are as follows!" Reven chirped. "From the Emerald City, Nathalinia Hearst and Elphaba Thropp!"

"From Gillikin, Glinda Upland!"

"From the Vinkus, Faye Alis and Saraphina Bulok!"

"And from Munchkinland, Nessarose Thropp!"

The hosts babbled on after that, informing the viewers there would be a commercial break now; but by the time the cameras were turned off, Lunare was already stomping off the stage.

"Miss Lunare!" Reven cried, following her. The other girls, as well as Cashel, trailed behind her.

The moment they reached the dressing room, Lunare whirled around, her eyes spitting fire.

"How is it that I have been eliminated while _she_ ," she pointed at Faye, "is still in the competition?!"

Reven looked baffled. "Because the viewers gave her more votes, Miss Lunare. You know how it works, don't you?"

"She doesn't deserve to be here!" Lunare hissed.

"Excuse me?!" Faye demanded hotly, but before she and Lunare could get into another fight, Macy was speaking up.

"This whole thing is rigged," she declared.

Everyone fell silent and Reven and Cashel gaped at her.

"Excuse me?" Reven asked.

"There is no way," Macy said, "no way at all, that the cripple and the vegetable made the cut and Lunare, Micaela, and I didn't. It's just not possible."

Elphaba stepped forward, clenching her fists. "Don't you dare talk about my sister that way."

Macy laughed. "What are you going to do about it?" she challenged.

Elphaba, her gaze icy, held out a hand and muttered a spell under her breath, despite Glinda and Nessarose's hisses of "Elphie!". Macy suddenly stiffened, unable to move anything except for her eyes, and the dark-haired witch smirked.

"You were saying?" she asked sweetly.

"Miss Elphaba!" Cashel cried in utter shock. Reven had fainted on the floor. Most of the other girls backed away from Elphaba fearfully, although Umbia seemed awed and Karise looked slightly impressed as well.

"It's only temporary," Elphaba assured the host, but he angrily waved his hands at her.

"Undo this right now! The commercial break is almost over – this isn't the way proper young ladies should behave! Help me!" he called over his shoulder at a security guard standing there.

The man came over and Cashel pointed at Lunare. "Keep a close eye on her. Don't let her leave this room. In fact," he said, "don't let any of the eliminated contestants leave this room for the duration of the live show. Miss Elphaba, undo whatever you did to Miss Macy instantly or you will be disqualified on the spot!"

Elphaba sighed, but chanted the counter-spell, making Macy able to move again. The moment she realised she could, she glared at Elphaba, pointing.

"You'll pay for this," she hissed. "Wait until you're up on that stage again next week, greenie. Just wait for it. I'll make you pay!"

Before Elphaba could react to that threat in any way, Cashel was already ushering her and the other girls back onto the stage, at the same time fanning Reven, who was slowly regaining consciousness. It was a flurry of panic and activity for a while, but by the time the commercial break ended, the six remaining contestants were all sitting on stools on the stage, looking perfect and smiling sweetly; and Cashel and Reven, although slightly pale and the tiniest bit dishevelled, beamed at the cameras and continued the show as if nothing of importance had occurred.


	18. The Winds of Chance

**18\. The Winds of Chance**

Throughout the rest of the semi-final, Elphaba tried to appear as angelic as possible, making sure to keep a smile on her face at all times and to act demure and friendly. She could tell the other contestants were doing the same, even though it was clear that Nathalinia, Saraphina, and Faye were still shocked because of Elphaba's magical display a little earlier, while Glinda and Nessa obviously disapproved of it. Still, Elphaba felt it had been justified.

As Cashel and Reven introduced the panel of judges, she tried to seek out Fiyero in the crowd, or maybe one of the others; but the lights were shining in her face and the audience, to her, looked like nothing more than shadows. She sighed, feeling frustrated, but she tried to focus on the hosts again. There would be another commercial break soon; perhaps she'd be able to sneak away then and do some snooping around backstage.

The judges consisted of three people. There was Gracie Crarter, the fashion designer whose dress Lunare had been wearing tonight, and Elphaba couldn't help but feel like Lunare must have known about that somehow and tried to manipulate it to her advantage. It was too bad she'd been sent home by the audience before she even got to the jury, but it made her wonder. If she'd known Gracie would be in the judge panel, would she have had access to other information, too?

The second judge was Peter Herdson, a journalist who wrote for _Ozmopolitan_ as well as a couple of other magazines and who earned a living by criticising famous people. Glinda loved him; Elphaba, obviously, didn't. In fact, she hardly even knew his name.

The third jury member was, as Elphaba had feared, Madame Morgana Morrible, who had participated in the very first _Miss Emerald_ competition that had ever been hosted. Upon hearing that piece of information, Elphaba had to work hard to keep her mouth from dropping open. Morrible? In a beauty pageant? It seemed too ridiculous for words, although she supposed it wasn't impossible that the woman had been sort of pretty when the first _Miss Emerald_ competition had been hosted – forty-eight years ago.

She could see that Glinda was suppressing giggles and the corner of Nessa's mouth twitched. She could only imagine the way Fiyero would look right now and she couldn't help the slight grin that came to her face at that thought. They'd have to try to find out more about Morrible's _Miss Emerald_ participation later this week. Not even because it might be relevant to the threat, because it probably wasn't. Elphaba was just curious.

After a brief introduction and a few words from each judge, Reven, smiling, said, "Well, we've asked our contestants some questions before, but of course we have something different in store for them now! Everyone likes to hear what they think of the competition so far, but right now we're more interested in the six of them as people. What are their likes and dislikes? Who was their childhood best friend? Those kinds of things."

Cashel took over. "In a little while, our judges will decide which two girls will be sent home as well tonight and their verdict will partly depend on your performance during this interview, so sit up straight, smile, and do your best, girls!"

"The first question is for Miss Nessarose." Reven smiled at the wheelchair-bound girl. "What is your favourite childhood memory?"

Nessa thought about that for a moment. "The bedtime stories Elphaba used to make up for me when we were little," she said eventually.

There were some 'aww's from the audience. Elphaba was surprised. She'd thought Nessa would pick a memory of Frex taking her to a fancy party or something like that.

"That is very sweet," Reven said, smiling at Elphaba now, although the green girl could tell it was a little forced. Clearly, Reven was still upset with her because of what had happened earlier. Elphaba just smiled back as innocently as she could.

"Miss Faye," Cashel said. "Who is your biggest inspiration?"

"Oh, that one's easy," Faye said. "Winola Verkin. She's my idol."

"I love her, too," Nathalinia said, smiling brightly. "Although I must say I also love Adele Dazeem."

"Me, too!" Saraphina chimed in and Faye, Glinda, and Nessa all agreed. Elphaba decided that if she was going to keep up with this, she might need to start reading more magazines.

Reven moved over to Saraphina. "Do you have any pets?"

"Yes!" she said enthusiastically. "I have a dog, Buddi. He's the sweetest thing ever. I love him more than anything in the world."

"Pets are wonderful," Nessa agreed with a smile. "I've never had one, but I'd love to."

Glinda wrinkled her nose. "I'm not really an animal person. Animals stink."

Elphaba snorted a laugh, instantly bringing everyone's attention to her. Glinda narrowed her eyes dangerously and Nessa was shaking her head.

Elphaba quickly cleared her throat. "Sorry." No snorting. She should have remembered the 'no snorting' rule.

"Miss Elphaba, you are not quite a typical lady," Cashel observed, moving over to her. "Do you think you're here only because you're our princess, as some of the other girls have suggested, or do you think the people genuinely like you?"

Well, that was an offensive question. Elphaba shrugged. "How should I know?" she asked, which was probably the wrong thing to say, but she honestly didn't know what else she _could_ say – and besides, if they were going to ask her rude questions, she was going to give them rude replies. "Ask the people. One way or another, I promise I won't hold it against them – and neither will my father."

Cashel smiled and nodded. "I think that's a brilliant idea – and, of course, we already took care of that! We asked our audience members this question before the show and guess what?" He paused dramatically. "87% of the people who have voted for you, say they have done so because they are fond of your looks, skills, and/or character."

Elphaba chuckled. "I'd expected worse."

"Me, too," she heard Glinda mutter beside her through her smile, sounding impressed. She glanced to the side and Glinda grinned at her.

"Miss Glinda." Reven stood in front of the blonde, who quickly wiped the grin off her face again. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Not right now," said Glinda, shaking her head. "I've dated Prince Fiyero for a while, but he's obviously moved on to greener pastures. Quite literally, too." She winked at Elphaba, who flushed. Then Glinda gave a blinding smile in the direction of the cameras. "I'm very much available at the moment, so if anyone is interested…" She blew a kiss into the camera. The audience went completely wild.

Cashel had to clear his throat a few times before the noise died down. He was standing with Nathalinia now. "Miss Nathalinia, who do you think has changed your life the most?"

She smiled a little at that. "My mother," she said. "She's always been so wonderful. No matter what happens, she's always there for me, and I love her." She waved at someone in the audience. Elphaba wondered how she could have picked out her mother in the darkness; maybe she'd known beforehand where her family would be sitting.

Reven took over again. "Miss Nessarose, an easy one for you this time. Favourite colour?"

"Pale yellow," Nessa replied instantly.

They asked Faye and Saraphina about their best friend and hobbies, respectively, before it was Elphaba's turn again.

Cashel glanced at the young witch. "What is the scariest thing you've ever done in your life?"

She froze up a little. What could she say to that? 'Stand up to the Wizard'? That probably wouldn't go over well, and people shouldn't even know about that, anyway. 'Enter a beauty pageant in an attempt to find a criminal who wants to blow up the most important people in Oz'? Yeah, not going to happen.

The only thing she could think of was the advice Glinda had given her a while ago for such situations: ' _If you don't know the right thing to say, then be honest. Just please try to do it without being rude or offensive somehow._ '

And so, before she fully realised it, she'd already blurted it out. "Falling in love."

For the first time that night, she was _glad_ she couldn't see Fiyero's face in the audience. She kept her eyes on Cashel, hoping she didn't look as flustered as she felt. The audience responded with 'oh's and 'ah's and she could almost sense the surprise of the girls surrounding her, but she didn't dare look at any of them.

"How so?" Cashel asked, clearly intrigued.

She took a deep breath. "I'm a perfectionist," she admitted. "A control freak. I always thought I'd stay alone forever, because… well, because of the green, so I threw myself into my studies instead. I never thought that, when I came to Shiz, I'd make friends, let alone something more. Falling in love means losing control and I was terrified of doing that."

"But you did it," Cashel said and she nodded.

"Did you ever regret it?" Saraphina asked her, her eyes soft.

Elphaba smiled despite herself. "Not for a single clock-tick," she said and she heard the collective sigh go through the audience. It was a little silly, she thought, but, well, if this made them relate to her, all the better. She hadn't intended to play them. She just hadn't known what else to say if not the truth.

Cashel and Reven went through the rest of their questions without Elphaba really paying attention, still thinking about her previous answer, until they came back to her with a new question.

"Miss Elphaba, by now we've all learned that you have magical powers," Cashel said cautiously. "I think we're all very curious about how such a thing came to be and what you can do with them, exactly."

She shrugged again. "I was born with them, I guess," she said. "I used to have magical outbursts when I was younger. I've tried to learn to control it, but that is difficult." Especially since her magic teacher had turned out to be a power-hungry maniac trying to use Elphaba's magic to gain power over Oz as a whole and then had her magical powers taken away, leaving Elphaba without any magic teacher at all. "I can usually suppress it, unless I'm very emotional – sad or angry, mostly. Then it sometimes just… bursts out in some form."

"Such as when you pinned your classmate to the wall because she offended Prince Fiyero?" Cashel asked and although she felt like it was a trick question, somehow asked to make her look bad, she simply nodded.

"Yes."

They moved on after that and soon, the interview was over. As the audience applauded, the cameras turned off for the next commercial break and the girls all moved backstage for a short time.

Glinda, Nessa, and the others all instantly started discussing their interviews and how they thought they'd done, but Elphaba sneaked off and down towards the dressing room where the other girls were supposed to still be. She quickly checked the room. Umbia, Lunare, Karise, Micaela, and Caila were still there, in various stages of anger and disappointment. Macy, however, was missing and somehow, Elphaba felt like she already knew what that meant.

As quickly as she could in her high heels, she rounded a corner; only to be stopped by Cashel.

"Miss Elphaba!" he cried, waving his hands madly. "Where are you going? The commercial break isn't that long – you can't go back there!"

She pointed at the hallway. "But I -"

"No 'but's, Miss Elphaba," Cashel said sternly. "I want to see you back on that stage in thirty seconds max! We need to go over some things for the final part of the show!"

Elphaba bit her lip, doing some quick thinking. She couldn't follow Macy herself, but maybe she could get someone else to do it for her. There was no way she could contact Oscar, Chistery, Dr Dillamond, Fiyero, or even Boq from here, though, which meant she'd have to put her trust in someone else.

Devising a hasty plan, she hurried back to the dressing room with the other candidates and called quietly, "Umbia, Karise? Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Umbia and Karise came over and Elphaba beckoned them into a corner.

"I don't have much time," she said, "but I'll try to explain it very quickly. Someone has made a bomb threat for the finale and I'm helping some people to try and figure out who it is. Right now, I'm very heavily suspecting Macy, especially since she's not here. I've tried to look for her, but I can't go very far since I'm still in the show."

"Right," said Karise, instantly understanding what Elphaba wanted and jumping on it. "We're on it. We'll try to find out where Macy went and if she's involved in this."

Umbia looked a little taken aback by all the new information, but she, too, seemed ready to help. "Do you suspect anyone else?"

Elphaba nodded. "One of the judges. Madame Morrible. She -"

"Miss Elphaba!"

She swore softly, earning herself an amused look from both other girls.

"Go," Umbia urged her and Karise added, "We'll take care of this. Go kick some arses."

Elphaba grinned at them both. "Thanks." Then she hurried back onto the stage.

"All right," Reven was saying quickly. "You six girls need to stand here in a line again. Left hands on your hips – yes, like that – and smiles on your faces! Look at the judges, but feel free to look around into the audience a few times, too. Miss Elphaba, you must stand here beside Miss Nathalinia; and Miss Saraphina, could you just step up beside Miss Faye, please? Very good. Now," she said sternly, "two more girls will be eliminated tonight, but I would very much appreciate it if those two girls did not make such a fuss of losing as some of our other contestants did earlier. Is that clear? I assume you do still want to make a good impression on the people of Oz, regardless of whether or not you're still in the competition, and trust me when I say that being a sore loser is not at all becoming for a lady. Is that understood?"

"Yes," the girls chorused. Elphaba noticed Nessa glancing at little anxiously at the other girls and her heart ached for her little sister. She knew how important this contest was to Nessa. In her mind, this was her chance to prove to everyone that she was more than just her chair. Elphaba hoped her sister wouldn't be sent home by the judges now.

"Cameras back on in ten, nine, eight…"

Elphaba quickly reached around Nathalinia to squeezed Nessa's shoulder. "No matter what happens, you're the prettiest in all of Oz to me," she whispered, smiling encouragingly.

The wheelchair-bound girl laid her hand over Elphaba's for a moment and squeezed back. "Thanks, Fabala."

"Positions!" Reven hissed.

"Three, two…"

The annoying _Miss Emerald_ tune played and Cashel grinned widely. "Welcome back to the semi-final of _Miss Emerald_!" he sang at the cameras. "Which one of these six lovely ladies will be this year's Miss Emerald? That is something we will see next week. For now, however, our judges have the unfortunate task of sending two of them home, based on their overall performances during the past month but also not in the least on the way they have held themselves here on this live stage today."

"Before they make their decision known, however, we would like to hear a little bit from our judges on each of these girls," Reven added. "Miss Crarter?"

Gracie smiled. "It's clear that all six of these girls have tried their best to make a good impression today," she said. "Of course, we do have some notes on each and every one of them."

"Both positive and negative, that is," Peter Herdson added. "For example, I am quite taken with Miss Nessarose. She's been demure, elegant, and polite throughout the entire competition so far and she's certainly a very beautiful young lady to look at. However, I'm wondering if she might be a little _too_ poised and if her chair is something we should take into account."

"My own personal opinion is that some of these girls, mainly Miss Elphaba, Miss Nessarose, and Miss Glinda, simply do not have what it takes," said Morrible, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. "I hope they'll prove me wrong." She chuckled. "I doubt they will. Miss Saraphina is the winner for me – or perhaps Miss Faye."

"Yet I," Gracie Crarter chimed in again, "have been rooting for Miss Glinda from the beginning and I like the fact that Miss Elphaba is brave enough to step out of the box and do things a little differently than the other girls. Like Peter, I've been very impressed with Miss Nessarose as well. Miss Nathalinia, I believe, is the perfect blend of bubbly and ladylike; Miss Saraphina is both very beautiful and has a lovely personality; and Miss Faye seems a wonderful example of what a proper lady should be like. It hasn't been an easy choice in the slightest."

"Despite that fact, though, we have made our choice." Peter Herdson looked at Reven and Cashel, who nodded.

"That is good to hear, Mr Herdson," Reven said happily. "Before we hear your verdict, however, we will have to announce two names. These names are the ones of the two girls who have gotten the very most votes from the viewers over the course of the past month, which means they are safe regardless of the decision of the judges. These two ladies are the first to be certain of a spot in the finale next week!"

"The first of these names," Cashel said, pulling a little card from the inside pocket of his jacket, "is…"

Again, the ominous music played and the stage lights dimmed.

"Miss Nathalinia Hearst!"

Nathalinia clasped her hands over her mouth as confetti fell from above. She threw her arms around Elphaba, who patted her back awkwardly, and then around Saraphina, Faye, Glinda, and Nessa as well. "Thank you!" she said fervently, blowing kisses at the audience. "Thank you all so much!"

"Congratulations, Miss Nathalinia!" Cashel cheered. "You are the first finalist of this year's _Miss Emerald_!"

Reven pulled out a card of her own. "Now for the second name," she said, pausing to increase the tension.

Elphaba sighed. She already knew this would be her; Oscar hadn't wanted to involve any of the jury members in his plan, since he wasn't sure if any of them could be trusted, so the only way to make sure the green girl safely got to the finale was to manipulate the viewers' votes. She could only hope Umbia and Karise had discovered something incriminating about Macy so the girl and anyone else involved could be arrested and Elphaba could just drop out before the finale. Or at the very least be the first girl to be eliminated _in_ the finale.

"Miss Elphaba Thropp!" Reven announced. More confetti, triumphant music, and hugs from the girls around her. When she went to stand next to Nathalinia, the dark-skinned girl squeezed her in a hug so tightly she could hardly breathe. She glanced over at Glinda, who looked resigned and a little disappointed. When the blonde caught her roommate's eye, though, she gave Elphaba a smile and a thumbs-up.

"Judges," Cashel said, glancing at the three of them. "It's up to you now."

"Yes." Madame Morrible sat up a little, the corners of her mouth pulled down just the slightest bit. Elphaba supposed she was mad that the dark-haired witch had made it through. "No matter how wonderful all these remaining girls are, there are only four spots in the finale, two of which have now been filled."

"We won't keep you on the edge of your seat any longer." Peter Herdson cleared his throat. "The first girl joining Miss Nathalinia and Miss Elphaba in the finale next week is Miss Saraphina Bulok!"

Saraphina actually jumped a little upon hearing her name, a beaming smile spreading across her face. She, too, hugged the others and then Cashel and Reven, who looked startled at that. "Thank you!" Saraphina called at the judges, curtseying deeply. "I won't let you down!"

"We're looking forward to seeing you again next week," Gracie said with a smile.

Peter took over again. "The second and final girl who made the finale is… Miss Nessarose Thropp!"

This time, Elphaba was cheering even louder than the others, genuinely happy for her sister. Nessa looked surprised yet touched and very happy, tears in her eyes as she thanked Reven and Cashel and moved her chair in front of the jury panel, holding her hands to her heart and mouthing 'thank you'. Gracie and Peter both gave her warm smiles in return, even though Morrible looked a little cross.

"You made it!" Elphaba whispered happily to her sister, embracing her. "Congratulations, Nessie!"

"You, too!" Nessa smiled, but Elphaba shook her head and gave her a look. Nessa made a face, realising what her sister meant – that Oscar must have manipulated the votes.

"Unfortunately, this means we'll be saying good-bye to Miss Glinda Upland of Gillikin and Miss Faye Alis of the Vinkus," Reven said. "Can I have a big applause for these two beautiful contestants!"

The audience cheered and clapped so loudly that both girls, despite their visible disappointment, couldn't help but smile. They took each other's hands and curtseyed together before the audience and the judges, blowing kisses and waving again as Cashel and Reven talked into the camera, wrapping up the episode. Finally, the cameras were turned off and Elphaba let out a breath, exchanging a look with her sister.

One live show down, one more to go.

* * *

 **Next update is on Sunday. On Monday, I'm leaving for a ten-day holiday with some friends, but I'm bringing my laptop and I should have wifi everywhere; so if everything goes according to plan, there shouldn't be a lot of delay in updates, even though they probably won't be as regular as usual.**

 **Also, we're nearing the end of this story; I've almost finished writing chapter 21 and there will probably only be one or two more after that.**


	19. The Most Celebrated

**So yes, in the previous chapter, Winola Verkin was Willemijn Verkaik and Adele Dazeem was (obviously) Idina Menzel. That's actually also a reference to where I got my own beauty pageant contestant name, because my full name put through an online "Travoltifyer" became Macy Lezwis. :P**

* * *

 **19\. The Most Celebrated**

Elphaba returned backstage fully expecting to find Macy there, being restrained by security guards. Instead, however, she was greeted by Karise and Umbia, who were both wearing sullen expressions.

"I'm sorry, Elphaba," Karise apologised. "It was a false alarm."

A wave of disappointment washed over the green girl. "Really? Are you sure?"

Umbia nodded. "The only incriminating thing Macy has done is stick her tongue down the throat of one of the light technicians," she said, making Karise snort a laugh.

Elphaba sighed. She should have known there was nothing more to it. Her first instinct about Macy had probably been right – she was too stupid to be a criminal. For her, everything was about make-up, popularity, and boys.

She frowned suddenly. "Wait. Doesn't Macy have a boyfriend? A different one, I mean?"

Karise nodded, looking smug. "She does, which is probably why she's sneaking around backstage to frolic with this guy."

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Great."

"Elphie!" Glinda approached her, looking a little sad, but smiling nonetheless. She hugged her roommate tightly. "Congratulotions. I'm proud of you – and Nessa, too."

"Thanks, Glin," said Elphaba, recognising she couldn't say anything about Oscar's manipulating votes in front of Karise and Umbia. "I'm sorry you didn't make it."

Glinda waved her away, even though Elphaba knew her best friend had to be disappointed. "I made it to the top 6, didn't I? That's already quite impressive!"

"It is," Umbia agreed. "Congratulotions."

Glinda beamed at her. "Thanks, Umbia."

Elphaba moved away from them, intending to change back into her normal clothes and return to the Palace with Oscar and the others; but she was stopped by the sight of Morrible disappearing down a hallway. Without so much as thinking about it, she followed the older woman, sneaking after her. She watched her approach a man in dark clothes standing at the end of the hallway. She couldn't get any closer without being seen, but Morrible and the man had a whispered conversation and then the man disappeared and Morrible slipped into a door on her right. Whatever this was, Elphaba didn't trust it.

She waited for a while. Soon enough, Morrible returned and the green girl quickly moved back to the other contestants, pretending to talk with her sister as she kept half an eye on Morrible, who went out onto the stage again.

"What's wrong?" Nessa asked in a low voice.

Elphaba shook her head. "I don't know," she said quietly, "but I don't trust it."

Nessa followed her gaze to Morrible. "She'll be preoccupied for a while yet," she noted, glancing cautiously at her older sister. "Some of the press is interviewing all the judges."

Elphaba looked at her.

Nessa gave her a tiny nod. "I'll cover for you if needed."

Elphaba smiled. "Thanks, Nessa."

She quickly made her way back to the hallway where she'd seen Morrible and the man talking and she pushed open the door Morrible had disappeared through earlier. It was the judges' dressing room and Elphaba easily sneaked inside. No-one was there, just like she had hoped, and the green girl took the opportunity to search Morrible's things.

There wasn't much there. The only personal item of Morrible's was her handbag, which contained make-up, some food, a tiny mirror, a spectacle case, a pocket diary and a couple of pencils. There was also a card with a phone number on it; she quickly copied the phone number onto a loose piece of paper to take with her. The pencils gave her an idea and she searched the desk the handbag had been lying on, hoping to find something handwritten of Morrible's. She eventually found some notes the woman must have taken on some of the girls and she stuffed them into the bodice of her dress. If nothing else, Oscar's security department could compare Morrible's handwriting to the handwriting on the letters. She wasn't sure what would be enough to arrest the woman, but at least it would be something. She hadn't really expected the old fish to keep a bomb detonator in her purse, or a postcard saying _I AM GOING TO BLOW UP THE MISS EMERALD FINALE_.

She managed to get back without anyone getting suspicious and after she and the others had changed, they all returned to the Emerald Palace. Elphaba gave her father the notes and phone number she'd found and told him about what she had seen. She could tell he was mildly exasperated because she was still suspecting Morrible, but he promised to have some of his men look into it.

They spent the next day sightseeing in the City, but when they returned to the Palace for dinner, it was to find that Oscar and Dr Dillamond had some good news for them.

"The handwriting on the threat letter matches Morrible's," Oscar told her. "That, combined with some reports from both you and one of my security guards about having seen her talking to someone suspicious, was enough reason for us to bring her in. She will be questioned tomorrow."

Although they were all relieved to hear that, Elphaba seemed a little disappointed and when Oscar asked her about it during dinner, she heaved a sigh. "I guess it just feels like an anti-climax," she said. "I've been working so hard to make my participation in this pageant work – I've put hours and hours of lessons and a whole lot of effort into it, I've been keeping an eye out for suspicious activities… and now, because of a hunch and the fact that I managed to sneak into a room and steal some papers, we caught the culprit? It seems too easy. Too coincidental."

"We're not certain Madame Morrible actually did it," Dr Dillamond corrected her. "Not yet, anyway."

"She is, however, in custody and the questioning will tell us soon enough if she's really behind it," Oscar added. "Elphaba, coincidences happen – thankfully, in this case."

Elphaba nodded, poking at her dinner. "All right." It didn't feel all right, though. She still had that nagging feeling that it wasn't over yet.

Fiyero, who was sitting beside her, took her hand under the table. "I'm proud of you," he said quietly.

She squeezed his hand gratefully in reply.

"Does this mean the finale won't be cancelled?" Nessa asked hopefully and Oscar smiled at her.

"That depends on what today's interrogations will bring," he said, "but if it turns out that Morrible was indeed the person behind it, and we can establish that there won't be a threat any longer… then no, it won't be cancelled."

Nessa sighed happily. Glinda, however, didn't say anything. Elphaba knew her best friend had taken her defeat hard, even though she was trying to be a lady about it. She was just staring at her food now, hardly eating anything and looking lost in thought.

"Wait," said Elphaba suddenly. "If we did indeed catch our Bomb Threat Woman…"

Nessa giggled at that.

"…and you manipulated the viewers' votes to get me into the finale… can't I switch?" Elphaba asked, her eyes lighting up. She glanced at Glinda. "With someone who really does want to be in the finale, that is?"

The blonde slowly looked up and blinked at her friend.

"I could just drop out," Elphaba continued to Oscar, "and you could make it so that the girl with supposedly the third most amount of viewer votes, say maybe a certain Miss Upland, would be in the finale instead…"

Glinda smiled sadly and shook her head.

"No, Elphie," she said firmly. "The people have spoken."

"No, they haven't," Elphaba countered. "My father has spoken, but now the threat is gone, so there is no need for me to be in the finale anymore. You know I never even wanted this, Glin, and I know how badly you _do_ want it."

Oscar cleared his throat. "That's very sweet of you, Elphaba, but there's one small problem."

Elphaba gave him a questioning look.

Oscar smiled mysteriously. "I didn't manipulate anything."

"Yes, you did," Elphaba argued. "I'm in the finale, remember?"

His smile only widened and she gaped at him. "You didn't…?"

"He didn't," Chistery assured her, grinning as well. "You made it on your own, Elphaba. He didn't have to manipulate anything. You actually did achieve second place in the viewer voting."

Glinda, despite herself, squealed and threw her arms around her roommate. "Oh, Elphie! I'm so proud of you!" She planted a kiss on Elphaba's cheek. "You can't pull out now, not even for me – this is wonderful! You have to go! You might even win!"

"I don't want to win," Elphaba whined, but no-one was listening anymore. She sighed, protested, and grumbled; but in the end, the others managed to convince her to stay in the competition. Still, to her, it didn't feel like it was over yet and, as usual, Fiyero picked up on it, although he didn't call her out on it – yet.

* * *

Later that evening, Elphaba found herself tossing and turning for a while in her bed in the Palace before finally falling asleep, only to start awake again less than an hour later from a vivid nightmare. She sighed and pulled on a pair of slippers and a cardigan, intending to wander around the building for a bit; but before she could leave her room, she heard a quiet knock on her door.

She opened it only to find Fiyero standing outside and she quirked an eyebrow at him. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"Seeing if you were up, too," he said, giving her that lopsided grin. He took in her dishevelled appearance – messy hair, red-rimmed eyes – and his blue eyes clouded with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said tiredly, holding open her door so he could come in. "Just another nightmare, that's all. Something with fish and tiaras this time." She gave him a weak grin, but he didn't grin back. Instead, he wrapped her into his arms and held her for a while as she allowed herself to relax against his chest, closing her eyes and listening to his heartbeat.

"I love you," he murmured into her ear.

She pulled away and searched his face. "Why are you really here, Yero?"

He sighed. "I had a nightmare, too," he confessed. Another crooked grin. "Believe it or not, but it was also about Morrible, and you, and… well, let's just say it wasn't pleasant. I guess your worries about her have rubbed off on me. Besides, I could tell today that you're still bothered by this whole thing, so I figured as long as I was awake, anyway, I might as well go check on you."

She smiled a little, leading him over to the bed so they could sit side by side. "I keep being surprised at how well you know me, although I guess I shouldn't be."

"I told you, I paid attention. Trust me – if they had a course at Shiz on you, I'd get top marks."

"That'd be a first, then," she teased him and he stuck out his tongue.

They sat quietly for a while.

"Do you want anything?" Fiyero asked her. "Some warm milk and honey, maybe? Something to help you sleep?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine, thanks." She rubbed her eyes. "I just can't believe it's over. Of course I've suspected Morrible from the beginning and it doesn't surprise me that she's the one behind it all, but I have a feeling that's not all. That maybe she's planned more, or something. It seems too easy, you know?"

"I know wat you mean." Fiyero put an arm around her shoulders and touched his forehead to her temple. "But if you are being completely honest – do you have any actual evidence or clues that Morrible might have something else planned, or is it just a feeling?"

"Just a feeling," she admitted.

"And when you say 'just a feeling', does that mean some kind of vision or prophecy you've seen or is it mainly just the fact that she tried to do some horrible things last year and she's come to embody all things evil in your head so it seems anticlimactic that we caught her relatively easily?"

She had to smile, once again, at how well he knew her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Probably the latter," she conceded. "I mean… I did get something that very strongly resembled a vision, a while ago, but I didn't really _see_ anything. That, too, was just a feeling – a very strong feeling, but just a feeling. The feeling that something bad is going to happen."

"Fae," he said teasingly, "no offence, but you _always_ feel like something bad is going to happen."

She glared at him and he pulled her close, chuckling as he kissed her. "My little pessimist."

"I'm not little and I'm not a pessimist," she told him flatly. "I'm a realist."

His eyes lit up. "But you _are_ mine?"

Her glare intensified and she stomped his arm, but he just laughed again and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "It's over, Fae. It's all right. I get why you would feel that way about Morrible – I'm inclined to do the same thing – but it doesn't look like she has anything more planned than we already know. Not this time."

Elphaba heaved a sigh. "I know. You're right. I'm just… paranoid." She buried her face in his shoulder. "Sometimes I honestly wonder how you can stand me," she said, her voice muffled by the shirt he slept in. "And then I'm not even talking about the magic or the green. Personality-wise, I'm just… nothing like you at all. Sometimes I can't even stand myself, so how can you?"

He shrugged, enveloping her in his arms and resting his chin on the top of her head. "Maybe it's because I love you," he said. "Or maybe it's just because your self-esteem is unhealthily low and you think you're much worse than you actually are. Trust me, Fae – I can stand you just fine. Yes, you can be exasperating sometimes, but never to the extent you just described."

She was quiet.

"Besides," he added lightly, "you're cute when you're exasperating."

He gasped when he suddenly felt an elbow between his ribs. "Ouch!"

"Not cute," she muttered against his shoulder with a scowl.

"The only reason I'm not going to argue with you is because I don't want another elbow between my ribs." He winced, rubbing the spot. "Oz, Fae, that hurt."

She quickly pulled away, looking worried. "Really? I'm sorry, I didn't mean –" She cut herself off with a shriek when he threw her back onto the bed and started tickling her.

"Got you there," he grinned, looking down at her. She scowled at him, but he quickly made that scowl disappear by leaning over her and kissing her softly on the lips.

"Go to sleep," he told her, running his fingers down her cheek before pulling away and rising to his feet. "Stop worrying about Morrible and the threat – it's over now. You just focus on the finale this Friday, which you'll nail, and after that it will be completely over and you won't have to parade around in pretty dresses ever again. Okay?"

"I'm a princess," she protested. "I'm willing to bet my right hand that someday, someone is going to expect me to parade around in a pretty dress again."

Fiyero raised his eyebrows and she sulked, crossing her arms. "Fine."

He grinned and moved back to the bed to kiss her again. "Sweet dreams, hon."

"'Night." She watched him go and then crawled under the blankets again, hoping sleep would come a little easier now that she'd had some distraction.

* * *

 **Hope you like! Off to Germany and Prague tomorrow, but as I said, I'll have wifi so it should all be fine. ^_^**


	20. Beautiful

**An update from Germany. :)**

 **You're all so suspicious about Morrible... you might be right, too. *cackles* For now, though, some fluff!**

* * *

 **20\. Beautiful**

When Fiyero knocked onto the door to Elphaba and Glinda's dorm room on Sunday evening, he was greeted by the sight of a petite blonde, looking pissed and tired at the same time.

"Fiyero," Glinda sighed as she stepped aside to let him in. "Thank Oz. Can't you talk some sense into her?"

"About what?" he asked, looking around. He didn't see Elphaba anywhere. What he _did_ see was a ridiculous amount of boxes – fancy boxes with ribbons still half-tied around them. He caught glimpses of colourful fabrics and shoes, which did nothing to alleviate his confusion. "What's all this?"

Glinda blew some hair out of her face and sank down on the small space on her bed free of boxes. "The finalists can't pick their own clothes for this Friday," Glinda explained. "To give everyone equal chances, all four of them will be wearing the same clothes, only in different colours. The boxes with clothes were already here when we returned from the Emerald City. Elphie is supposed to try everything on to see if it fits, because if something still needs to be adjusted, it'll have to be sent back to the City so it will fit her perfectly on Friday."

"So what is the problem?" Fiyero asked. "I know Fae hates clothes, but surely she's not making a big fuss over trying on some things?"

"Not exactly." Glinda sighed. "You see, the finalists will have to wear three different outfits this Friday during the show. One is a plain, grey dress – the girls will be presented to the judges and the audience without make-up and in simple clothing so they can be seen for who they really are, without any extras. I actually believe Elphie likes that dress the most, although I can't for the life of me figure out why."

Fiyero chuckled. He certainly could.

"Another is a ball gown," Glinda continued. "The third outfit, however, is… well…"

"A bathing suit," an angry voice suddenly said through the bathroom door at the other end of the room. "The third outfit is an Oz-forsaken _bathing suit_. I've never looked so ridiculous in my entire life and I refuse to go parading around a stage on TV looking like this!"

"Elphie, please, just come out," Glinda pleaded. "I'm sure it's not that bad!"

"There is no way in hell I'm going to let anyone see me in this thing!" Elphaba yelled through the door. "I'd rather _eat_ it than come out wearing it!"

Fiyero grinned at her antics. "Oh, Fae, I bet it looks very hot on you."

"Shut up, you idiot."

Glinda sighed. "You see what I have to put up with?" she demanded of Fiyero.

" _I'm_ her boyfriend," he retorted.

"Only last night you said that I wasn't that bad!" Elphaba protested through the door again and Fiyero rolled his eyes at Glinda.

"You're not," he said to the closed door. "This is just one of your more exasperating moments."

"Right." She sounded annoyed. "And you thought I was cute when I was exasperating, right?"

"Very," he said, the corner of his mouth twitching. "You're adorable."

Suddenly, the door flew open and Elphaba came storming out wearing a dark blue bathing suit. "You think this is adorable?" she demanded, planting her hands on her hips. Her cheeks were flushed with anger. "Really? Does this look _cute_ to you?!"

Glinda was smiling widely and Fiyero cocked his head a little to the side, studying Elphaba in her bathing suit closely and appreciatively. "Well," he said, pursing his lips a little and looking thoughtful. "To be completely honest, 'cute' isn't the first thing that comes to mind right now."

When she realised what he meant, she flushed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. He gave her an impish grin and she let out a squeak and ran back into the bathroom.

"Come on, Elphie, you have an amazing figure!" Glinda tried again. "Really, you look better than most girls in Oz in a bathing suit, trust me!"

"I second that!" Fiyero called after this girlfriend. "As I said – hot. Can't you wear that thing to our next date?"

The only reply he got from behind the door was, "You're such a horrible _guy_!"

He grinned at Glinda. "Is that a yes?"

Another indignant shriek from the bathroom. He chuckled and rose to his feet, walking over to it.

"I'm sorry, Fae, I'm just teasing. You know me." He waited for a reply, but he didn't get one. "Seriously. You look gorgeous. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

"Saraphina and Nathalinia will look much better in bathing suits than I do."

"Somehow, I doubt that," he said to the door.

"I'm too skinny. My bones are sticking out. And it's way too revealing."

"It's only for a little while," said Glinda. "It's just a round around the stage, a pose, and then you can take it off again. Come on, Elphie, you can do it."

Fiyero suddenly had a thought. "Will Nessa have to wear a bathing suit, too? Prissy, conventional Nessa?"

Glinda stifled a giggle. "I'll bet she's even more upset about that than Elphie is."

The bathroom door cracked open just a little. "Hand me that ball gown," Elphaba said. "I still need to try that one on as well."

Recognising her roommate wasn't going to come out in the bathing suit again, Glinda moved over to the largest box and gathered up arms full of dark red fabric that shimmered violet in a certain light. She carried the huge dress over to Elphaba, who had a little difficulty pulling it through the door without showing herself, and then the door closed again.

Glinda and Fiyero waited for a while. Finally, they heard a muttered curse, followed by a deep sigh. "Glin, can you help me? It's a corset. I _hate_ corsets."

Glinda giggled. "Sure, Elphie, I'll lace you up." She slipped into the bathroom as well, leaving Fiyero to rummage through the remaining boxes, feeling bored as he waited. He discovered a pair of white ballet flats – to go with the simple grey dress, he supposed – along with a pair of high-heeled sandals – to go with the bathing suit? – and a pair of fancy-looking pumps with a little strap going around the ankle in the same colour as the ball gown. There were also some hair clasps and ribbons there. No make-up, though; he supposed the contestants had to take care of that themselves.

The door opened and Glinda came out, looking ready to burst with enthusiasm. She hopped up and down, grinning widely, as Elphaba slowly came out. If the small blonde was waiting for a reaction from Fiyero, she wasn't disappointed. His jaw actually dropped upon seeing his girlfriend.

The dress was, indeed, a shade somewhere in between crimson and violet – magenta, Glinda called it. It looked surprisingly good with Elphaba's emerald skin and brought out her chocolate brown eyes. It was a huge, poufy number; the bodice was laced so tightly that he couldn't imagine Elphaba was still able to breathe and it was covered in beading, laced through with silver threads. The straps sat on her upper arms, just below her shoulders, and the dress had a sweetheart neckline.

Underneath the bodice, the gown exploded in layers of fabric and tulle, although the top layer of the dress was made completely out of satin that shimmered in the light. A few layers were draped over one another or gathered together at the waist, creating a traditional yet tasteful look and making the dress look even more enormous. The whole thing really was huge – Elphaba barely fit through the bathroom doorway – and the young witch looked decidedly uncomfortable in it, but Fiyero thought she looked more beautiful than ever.

She caught sight of his face and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Better than the bathing suit?" she teased and he blinked a few times, closing his mouth.

"I didn't think that would be possible," he admitted, adding impishly, "Unless you'd have taken the bathing suit _off_ …"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"…but yes," he finished, unable to keep his eyes off her. "Better than the bathing suit. You are so beautiful, Fae."

She wanted to make a sarcastic retort, she really did; but upon seeing the look in his eyes, she felt herself blushing and all that came out was a muttered, "Thanks," and a weak little smile. She fidgeted with the dress, only stopping when Glinda swatted her hands away.

Fiyero rose to his feet and moved over to her, placing one hand on his back and bowing for her. "Milady." She rolled her eyes at him. Fiyero took her hand and placed his free hand on her waist, pulling her into a few steps of the waltz they'd danced at the ball. She chuckled and he slowly spun her around before pulling her closer to him, letting go of her hand to cup her face instead – both of them ignoring the soft squeals Glinda was emitting.

"Regardless of how far you come in this competition," he said quietly enough so only Elphaba could hear, smiling but obviously sincere, "you'll always be the fairest of them all to me."

She could have called him out on being corny, but she couldn't deny the way her heart fluttered at his words and so she kept quiet, leaning in to kiss him softly instead. This time, her smile was wide and genuine.

* * *

On Monday, they received word from Oscar that his security department had discovered the handwriting on the threat letter to be the same as the handwriting on Morrible's notes. Morrible herself continued to deny having anything to do with it, but Oscar was positive she would crack and confess soon. They were also tracking down the owner of the phone number Elphaba had found in Morrible's purse.

Elphaba supposed her nagging feeling was just distrust of Morrible after all, then, and she tried to let it go. She spent most of her time 'catching up' on schoolwork she was 'falling behind' on (although she was the only one who actually saw it that way), spending some time with her friends, and hanging out with Fiyero. She tried to tell him she still needed some more practice for the finale, but he sternly told her she knew everything she needed to know already and she wasn't allowed to spend any more time on that stuff.

"We've only been together for a month and you're already neglecting me!" he whined. It earned him a stomp in the arm, but she did agree to go on another date with him that afternoon after class, so he was happy.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," he said once they were sitting in front of the fireplace in his room, watching a movie. Fiyero had made them both hot cocoa and she had snuggled up against him, making herself comfortable with her head on his shoulder and his arm around her.

"What?" she asked, not raising her head.

He absently played with her hair. "What you said during the semi-final…" he began.

Instantly, Elphaba groaned and turned her head so she could bury her face in his shirt. "I hoped you'd forgotten about that," she muttered sourly against his shoulder.

He chuckled. "Of course I haven't. You know me better than that." He tipped her chin up so he could look into her eyes. "Did you mean that?"

She sighed and nodded.

"Falling in love with me is the scariest thing you've ever done?"

"Aside perhaps from standing up to the Wizard and entering this Oz-forsaken beauty pageant…" She tilted her head a little to the side. "Yes."

"And you've really never regretted it?" he pressed on.

She glared at him. "I'm starting to now," she threatened, but that only made him grin and he kissed her.

"I love you."

She rolled her eyes before kissing him back and curling up against him again, returning her attention to the television screen.

They finished watching the movie and Fiyero cooked up a simple meal in his small kitchen – something Elphaba teased him about for at least ten minutes, because "Who knew the great and almighty prince of scandals could actually cook?". They had dinner together and then curled up in front of the fireplace again, just talking a little and cuddling. Elphaba eventually drifted off to sleep against his shoulder, which he thought was adorable. He could understand her being exhausted, what with everything going on, so he simply let her sleep, softly running his fingers through her hair. She snored a little, which he also happened to think was pretty cute, even though he was positive she would be mortified if he told her that.

He wondered what would happen at the finale that Friday. Would Elphaba win? He really hoped she would, if only so she would finally be able to see that she really was beautiful. Even if she didn't, though, she'd already come so far – and that in something she hated from the bottom of her heart. It only made him more proud of her for pushing through regardless.

He didn't think her suspicions of something else happening were well-founded, but he couldn't help but be the slightest bit concerned about them. After all, he had some experience with her visions and premonitions. She'd said this wasn't quite a vision, more of a gut feeling, but that didn't mean he wasn't worried. He just wished he could be closer to her during the finale, to keep an eye on her and help protect her if necessary, but she was still supposed to be on that stage and he had his seat a few rows back and to the side, on an elevated platform erected especially for Oscar and his guests. He'd just have to watch her from there and hope the threat was really over already.

A loud snore suddenly escaped her lips and she spluttered a little, waking herself up with the noise. He couldn't keep the grin from his face as he watched her eyes slowly blink open. She made a face as she realised she'd been asleep and she sat up, rubbing the spot on her face where her cheek had been pressed up against Fiyero's shoulder.

"Hello there, sleeping beauty," he said, his blue eyes twinkling, and she glared at him. He just laughed and slipped his arms back around her, kissing her slowly. That melted her soon enough and they kissed for another while, his hands tangling in her hair and hers clasped behind his neck, before Fiyero broke away and rested his forehead against hers for a moment, looking into her eyes.

"You should probably go back," he whispered and she sighed, but nodded reluctantly.

"Yeah."

He kissed her again and then pulled away. "Come on." He helped her to her feet and wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked to his door. He'd prefer to walk her back to her dorm room, but he knew she hated that, so he just cupped her cheek and kissed her again softly. "Be careful, okay?"

She smiled softly at him. "Of course." Another kiss to his cheek and then she turned around, calling over her shoulder, "And thank you for not pushing on walking me back."

"I might still just follow you at a distance to make sure you get back safely," he called back, at which she chortled.

"I'm a big girl," she reminded him. "And besides, I've got magic. I'll live."

He laughed and watched her go, waving at her once more when she glanced over her shoulder. Even from this distance, he could see her rolling her eyes at him, but she did wave back.

His beautiful, magical girlfriend. He smiled widely. He knew she had him completely under her spell, enchanted to be all hers, and he didn't even mind. If only all of Oz could see her the way he did, there would not be a doubt in anyone's mind of who was the true Miss Emerald.

* * *

 **I don't have much time to write here, so there might be some longer gaps between updates... I think this was the last (or else the second-to-last) pre-written chapter. I'll try to finish asap!**


	21. Outlive a Lie

**I'd say sorry for the delay, but I did warn you it might happen :P. Pretty much too busy on vacation to write much and no time even to be on my laptop every other day to update, but I'll keep trying. I just finished writing chapter 22, but since the day after tomorrow is the day we move back from Prague to Germany and it's a lot of train and car travelling, you might not get the update until Tuesday.**

 **For now, enjoy and let me know what you think!**

* * *

 **21\. Outlive a Lie**

This time, there was no event for the contestants on Friday afternoon and so Elphaba spent a couple of hours driving everyone at the Emerald Palace completely insane. Glinda was the only one encouraging her roommate's worries over posture, hair, clothes, shoes, manners, and make-up; everyone else mainly attempted to avoid the green girl. Unfortunately, while Elphaba was running around in blind panic upstairs, Nessarose was being just as bad on the ground floor, making Glinda and a maid try out five different hairstyles before deciding on one and having quite a bit of trouble fitting in her chair whilst wearing her ball gown, which unlike Elphaba's was a soft, pale yellow colour. They had to devise a specific manner to get her dressed in the gown and then seated in her chair during the show, because the girls only had the time space of one commercial break to change out of their bathing suits and into their ball gowns. Eventually, the men all silently retreated to Oscar's office with a glass of good Vinkun wine and they let the girls sort out their own problems.

By the time they left, both Elphaba and Nessa were nervous wrecks and the others tried to comfort them as they drove to the enormous theatre where the finale was going to be.

"Fae, you're not going to embarrass yourself," Fiyero reassured his girlfriend. "You've made it this far, didn't you? You've done wonderfully. We're all proud of you. You're not going to ruin it now and even if you don't win, it doesn't matter."

"I don't care about winning!" she bit at him. "I just care about getting through tonight without all of Oz thinking I'm some kind of nutcase!"

"You achieved the highest intelligence test score in the history of the pageant," Fiyero reminded her patiently. "No-one is ever going to think you're a nutcase."

Across from her sister, Nessarose was fidgeting. "What if the skirt of my ball gown gets stuck between the wheels of my chair?"

"I still think I look horrible in that bathing suit," Elphaba muttered. "They're all going to laugh at me. Her Froggy Highness. Princess Pea. I'll be surprised if no-one throws rotten food at me, although I suppose if they do, the bright side would be that no expensive dress is ruined, because I'll be wearing nothing than an Oz-forsaken bathing suit, anyway."

"I'll have to _sit down_ in a bathing suit all the time," Nessa stressed. "Everyone will constantly be looking at the rolls of fat on my stomach!"

"Nessa!" Glinda cried. "You are not fat in the slightest!"

Elphaba agreed. "You'll be fine, Nessie. You're beautifully skinny." She squeezed her own arm. "I, on the other hand…"

"Elphaba, even a _stick_ has more fat than you," Boq said, clearly incredulous that they were even having this discussion.

Elphaba bit her lip. "So you're saying I'm too bony? I am, aren't I? Oz, this was a terrible idea," she moaned.

Oscar cut in finally, exasperated about the whole situation. "Okay, that's it. Listen to me – both of you." He looked first at Nessa and then at Elphaba. "Neither of you have anything to prove tonight," he said. "You," he looked at Nessa, "don't need to prove that you can win _Miss Emerald_ despite your chair, Nessa. You are a beautiful person, both inside and out, and the people who can't see that aren't worth your time, anyway. Right now, you are one of the four most beautiful girls in Oz and that in itself is a wonderful achievement."

Nessa sighed, but nodded, seeing his point.

Oscar glanced at Elphaba. "And you… granted, I haven't known you for that long, but I think it's safe to say that the way you're acting right now is very unlike you and you're scaring me a little. You're the girl who went straight against the most powerful man in the country without a second thought and without caring about the consequences. Since when you do care so much about what other people think of you?"

A dark red colour slowly crept up into Elphaba's cheeks and Glinda said knowingly, "I know why. You're right, Your Oz- I mean, Oscar," she corrected herself. "It's not like Elphie to care about other people's opinions, but even though she doesn't want to admit it, she cares about yours. She probably doesn't like it, but you've grown on her now that you two have spent some more time together and she wants to make you proud. She's the princess and you're the leader of Oz; she wants to make a good impression on the people because she doesn't want to embarrass you."

Elphaba's cheeks flushed even brighter and Oscar looked a little amazed at that. "Really? Elphaba? Is that true?" he asked almost hopefully and she sighed and avoided his gaze, nodding reluctantly.

"Sort of," she muttered. "A little. I guess."

Oscar beamed at her. "Well," he said happily. "I was hoping you'd manage to forgive me eventually and maybe even have some sort of friendly feelings towards me, but this is more than I dared to hope for – especially within only a year after… well, after we met." He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

Elphaba frowned at him for a moment, then deflated. "All right, it's just… I know I tease you a lot, Dad, and I bring up what happened the day we met all the time because yes, it does still bother me, but… but I've also gotten to know you as a person during the past year and I… I like having a father," she admitted. "Frex never felt like one to me, but you're starting to, and Glin is right. I don't want to embarrass you. Or myself," she added. "If I can help it. But I'm used to embarrassing myself. It's no hobby of mine, but it's happened – a lot – and I've long since stopped trying not to. It's not just you, anyway." She glanced around at her friends, her gaze lingering on Fiyero a little longer. "You're all my friends and some of you have pretty high positions, too. I don't want to embarrass any of you, either." She looked at Nessa. "Oz knows I've done that to some of you enough already."

"Fabala…" Nessa said softly. "I'm sorry. I've accused you of embarrassing me in the past, but you never really did, you know. I was just being a cranky teenager, angry about being stuck in a chair and taking that out on you. I'm really sorry." She reached out to her sister, who took her hand and squeezed it gratefully.

Fiyero cupped her cheek. "I've told you a thousand times already, hon, that there is nothing in the world you could do to embarrass me," he told her quietly. "I love you. You'd never believe how proud I am to have you. I could never be embarrassed by you. I promise."

He could tell she didn't quite believe him, but she nodded nonetheless and he kissed her on the lips – chastely, since everyone else was watching.

"That goes for us, too, Elphie," Glinda said sternly. "We're all friends here. We all love each other. You, too. Would you suddenly stop caring about Boq because he failed an important exam? Or not love Fiyero anymore because he is seen as an irresponsible playboy by most of the Ozian people? Would you no longer want to be my friend if I decided to come to class naked one day?"

Fiyero snorted a laugh at that. Nessa looked a little disapproving. Boq seemed altogether too interested in the idea of Glinda sitting naked in class.

Elphaba had to laugh at her roommate, too. "No," she answered the blonde's question. "You're right. I'm being ridiculous. Even I can be silly sometimes."

"We all know you're ridiculous, Elphie," Glinda told her matter-of-factly, "but we love you for it." She squeezed herself in to hug Elphaba and then Nessa. "Both of you will be absolutely fine tonight."

Oscar cleared his throat. "Now that you've admitted this about me, though, Elphaba… I'm afraid I have a confession to make."

Everyone looked at him and Elphaba narrowed her eyes. "Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like this?"

He had the decency to look sheepish. "Well… I asked you to go undercover for me to see if you could discover who was behind the threat made about the pageant finale, right?"

"Right," Elphaba confirmed warily.

He fidgeted a little. "I, um… I haven't been entirely truthful with you." He looked at her. "You see, you're the princess of Oz now," he explained lamely. "And I… I know how insecure you are, or were, about that. About yourself, and about a royal position… I was thinking that maybe I could make you feel more comfortable with all that by showing you that you could win the people over. That they could love you."

Her eyes were wide now. "You tricked me," she accused him. "Didn't you? If I hadn't suggested a person on the inside, you'd have suggested it yourself. You tricked me into participating in this stupid contest! Is there even a threat at all?!"

"There was a threat," he said hastily. "That's what gave me the idea. I knew Morrible was behind it – my team figured that out a while ago." He grimaced a little. "I just figured it would make a nice excuse for you to participate – and besides, we really did need more incriminating evidence, so if you were to find that, well, all the better. But really… it was mostly to allow the people to get to know you and to get you to see yourself the way you really are – beautiful."

She pointed a menacing finger at me. "Don't use flattery on me now, Dad. You've been deceiving all of us from the beginning!" Suddenly struck by a different possibility, her eyes widened even further. "Wait a clock-tick. You _did_ deceive us all, didn't you?" She glanced suspiciously around at her friends, but they all looked as shocked as she was.

"I did," Oscar told her. "None of them knew. Not even Chistery."

Elphaba glared at the Goat sitting next to Oscar, who was suspiciously quiet. "And Dr Dillamond?"

Now he looked uncomfortable. "I, um… I might have been aware of His Ozness's plan," he confessed, lowering his gaze. "I am sorry, Miss Elphaba, but I agreed with his reasoning. I thought it might be good for you."

"Great," she said sarcastically. "Just wonderful. Now my own father and my favourite teacher have been lying to me. Did you lie about not manipulating the votes, too? Have you just made sure I got this far so you could prove your point to me of the people loving me?"

"No, Elphaba," Oscar said firmly. "I did not. I haven't manipulated anything so far in the competition. Everything you've achieved, you've achieved on your own, by being yourself and showing yourself to the people."

She pressed her lips together and crossed her arms.

"I did it to help you, Elphaba," Oscar said beseechingly. "I'm sorry. Perhaps I shouldn't have, but I really did think I was doing something for you – that it would be good for you."

"It _has_ been good for her," Glinda mused. "I mean, I do feel you've grown a little more confident over the whole princess thing, Elphie, and also about the way you look."

"That's true," Fiyero confirmed. "You haven't even protested me calling you beautiful for the past few weeks."

She stuck out her tongue at him. The others just laughed.

* * *

Upon arrival, Elphaba and Nessa were instantly whisked away to the four finalists' dressing room backstage. They were stripped of all their make-up, their hair was brushed and left loose, and they had to put on the simple, grey dresses and ballerina flats they had received for their fittings the weekend before. That would be the first part of the show: a presentation of the girls with a completely natural look.

Elphaba could tell she was probably the one who felt most comfortable this way. Nessarose kept stealing glances at herself in shiny surfaces, smoothing out her hair and skirt every time she saw her reflection. Saraphina was fidgeting with the simple dress, looking decidedly uncomfortable, and Nathalinia kept running her fingers through her hair.

"I never wear it loose," she said when she noticed Elphaba watching her. "It feels strange."

"I almost never wear it loose, either," Saraphina admitted. "It's so long and thick, it gets tangled very easily and then it takes me _years_ to run a brush through it!"

Elphaba grinned and held up a lock of her own long, thick raven hair. "I know that problem."

The other two girls laughed.

"I feel so naked without make-up," Nessa confessed and Nathalinia nodded in agreement.

"Not to mention wearing shoes with no heels," said Saraphina. "I've been wearing heels so often lately, especially now with the competition, I almost have to get used to flat shoes."

Reven came in, chirping, "Girls! Are you ready for the show to start?"

"It won't be long now!" Cashel said, beaming at them. "In a few minutes, the finale will begin; and in a couple of hours, we'll know who is the prettiest girl in all of Oz! Are you excited?"

"Yes!" Nessa, Nathalinia, and Saraphina said in unison. Elphaba hoped it wasn't too obvious to the hosts that she hadn't said anything.

Luckily, they seemed not to notice. "Come with me," Reven instructed. "I'll take you to your spots and explain to you how we're going to go about the show tonight. There will be two quick changes of hair and clothing today, so you'll need to know exactly where to go the moment the commercial breaks start."

The four girls all nodded obediently and followed Reven onto the stage.

She explained that the girls who had been eliminated the previous week would all be sitting in the front row tonight to watch. The four remaining girls would be presented looking completely natural and each one of them would give a short speech about her participating in the competition. The live audience would vote, resulting in one girl having to leave the competition. She would have to go backstage and wait there for most of the rest of the show. Then, the remaining three girls would do their 'bathing suit parade', as Elphaba secretly called it, and the judges would send one more girl away. At this point, the two final contestants would have to change into their ball gowns and the audience would get to vote again. The two contestants who had been eliminated before that, would also be put in their ball gowns – probably, Elphaba suspected, because it would be a waste not to, since all four girls had a custom-made ball gown already – and they would be sitting a little off to the side of the stage while the winner of the title of Miss Emerald was announced.

As everyone took their positions, Elphaba took a deep breath and exchanged a look with Nessa. This was it, then. The threat was gone, Morrible was safely locked up; and one way or another, it would all be over in a few hours.


	22. Getting Your Dreams

**I'm back! As I said, still busy so still no regular updates, sorry for that, but I'll try. In any case, here's the next chapter. With a cliffy. Because I can.**

* * *

 **22\. Getting Your Dreams**

Beaming, smiling, waving, and nodding. All four remaining contestants were apparently trying to compensate for their lack of pretty clothes and make-up by making sure their wide smiles were the only thing the audience could see. Reven and Cashel introduced them all, followed by the judges – Gracie Crarter, Peter Herdson, and Dawson Keezy, who had replaced Madame Morrible – and then the speeches began. Elphaba was up first.

She took a deep breath and looked around the theatre, even though she couldn't see anything more of the people than dark silhouettes. "I will be completely honest with you all," she began, "and admit to you that I wasn't all too keen on entering the _Miss Emerald_ competition at first. I initially participated for other reasons… mainly my father."

She couldn't see _him_ in the dark, either, but she sought out the elevated platform to her left side anyway.

"As you are all aware, I haven't known for very long that the Wizard of Oz is actually my father," she continued. "He never knew he had a daughter and ever since he found out, he's been trying to be the best father a girl could wish for, trying to amend his past mistakes and to make up for all the years we didn't have together. Participating in this pageant was mostly my way to try and make him proud."

The audience 'aww'd softly. Other than that, the silence was almost deafening and Elphaba swallowed.

"I don't need to be Miss Emerald," she said, raising her chin. "I'll admit that despite my reservations, I've had fun during this competition. I've met some wonderful people," she glanced at Karise and Umbia in the first row and cast a look to Saraphina and Nathalinia, just off the stage, "and I've grown even closer to my friends… some a little more than others," she said with a little laugh and the audience chuckled, realising she was referring to her relationship with Fiyero.

She grew serious again. "It's been a great experience that has taught me a lot," she admitted, "and even if I don't win tonight, I won't be sad, because no-one is going to take this experience away from me. Besides," she smirked a little, "I've already got a title, after all, and how many titles can one girl really need? No matter what happens tonight, though, I want to thank you all for your support. The fact that you all thought me good enough to be standing here today means a lot to me." With that, she curtseyed and left the stage, the audience shouting, clapping and cheering.

Her heart was pounding so loudly that she missed most of Saraphina's speech after that. Nessa squeezed her hand gently. "You did great, Fabala."

"I did?" Elphaba asked a little uncertainly and her sister laughed.

"Yes. You were amazing." She poked her playfully. "I didn't know you could be so charming."

Elphaba stuck out her tongue at her sister.

Nessa's own speech, too, was touching.

"All my life, I've been excluded from things," she told the audience. "I couldn't play or dance as a child. The other kids thought my chair was strange and ugly and the adults have always pitied me. My chair is usually the only thing people see, but not during this competition. For the first time, people saw me for who I am and they decided that what they saw was beautiful enough to be here today, in the finale of the _Miss Emerald_ beauty pageant. People have always told me I was tragically beautiful, but I have never truly _felt_ beautiful until these past few months. Until now."

It was clear that the audience was very charmed by demure, elegant Nessarose in her chair. They also seemed enthusiastic about Nathalinia, Elphaba, and Saraphina, though, so it was hard to say who was going to get the most votes tonight.

As the four girls lined up for the evening's first elimination and Nathalinia and Saraphina complimented Elphaba on her speech, the green girl felt a twinge of regret at having tried so hard. She'd done her best to give a good speech, mainly to make a good impression on the people as a princess; but she was kind of hoping she would be eliminated now because if she was, she would at least be spared the torture of having to parade around the stage in a bathing suit.

Unfortunately, the girl who had to go first turned out to be Nathalinia, who was a little sad about it, but said her good-byes with grace and dignity as she moved off the stage. Cashel announced the first commercial break and Elphaba, Nessa, and Saraphina were ushered to their backstage dressing room to change into their bathing suits. Elphaba's was dark blue, Saraphina's pale pink, and Nessa's was emerald green. This time, it was Saraphina who seemed most comfortable, while the Thropp sisters kept exchanging resigned looks. Nessa clearly wasn't any happier about her outfit than her sister was.

This time, it was Nessa who wheeled out first, around the stage, down the short runway in the middle, and then back again, stopping every once in a while to pose and smile at the audience. After Nessa came Elphaba and Saraphina was last. The audience's cheers were deafening and Elphaba suddenly wondered how many men there were among them – a thought that made a purplish red flush appear on her cheeks. She tried not to think about it too much.

Her walk around the stage felt like it lasted forever, but it only took a few minutes. Less than half an hour after Nathalinia had been sent away, the three remaining girls found themselves in front of the jury panel, still wearing their bathing suits, waiting for the judges' verdict.

"Judges," Cashel addressed them. "You've had some time to deliberate. Now the time has come for us to hear your decision. Which girl has not made it to the final two?"

"Well," said Peter, looking at the hosts, "of course we have been very impressed by all three girls' performances and all three of them deserve to be here today. Well done, girls."

They smiled and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Unfortunately," Dawson Keezy took over, "only two of them can continue to the next round, and only one of them can be Miss Emerald."

"We won't keep you waiting any longer," Gracie said, smiling at the girls. "The girl who has not made it to the final two, even though she has still given us an amazing performance, is… Miss Elphaba Thropp."

Elphaba exhaled slowly, even as sad music started playing and the audience booed at her elimination. When Reven asked for a final applause for Miss Elphaba, they gave her one, a big applause that lasted nearly an entire minute. Elphaba curtseyed, waved, and then left the stage.

She wasn't sad, exactly. Not even disappointed. Frankly, she was glad it was over for her – she felt like she'd done well and now Nessa had made it to the final two. She hoped her sister would win.

Another commercial break was announced and Nessa came wheeling up to Elphaba, reaching for her to give her a hug. "I'm sorry, Fabala."

"I'm not," Elphaba said honestly, hugging her sister back. "I don't mind, Nessie, really. Don't worry about me." She smiled. "I'm proud of you."

Nessa beamed at her, but before she could say anything else, Cashel and Reven appeared to usher them backstage, urging all four girls to change into their ball gowns.

Between Nessa's yellow gown, Elphaba's magenta one, Saraphina's light blue one, and Nathalinia's dark green, they looked like a colourful parade as they moved back onto the stage. Elphaba had helped Nessa into her chair and Nessa had explained to the hair dressers how she wanted her hair done. The people backstage had worked like madmen and made all four girls look like they had been in hair and make-up for an hour at least, all in less than ten minutes.

Nathalinia and Elphaba sat down on a couch on the side of the stage, plastering smiles onto their faces for the cameras. Nessa and Saraphina were placed next to each other in the centre of the stage as Cashel and Reven told the audience and the people at home that there would now be one final vote. All the people present in the audience got one slip of paper and they could vote for either Miss Nessarose Thropp from Munchkinland or for Miss Saraphina Bulok from the Vinkus.

The voting commenced while Cashel and Reven talked a bit more with the two final girls, asking them what they would do with the prize money if they won, how proud they thought their friends and families would be, and other similar questions. Then there was another commercial break. All this time, Nathalinia and Elphaba just sat on their couch in their puffy ball gowns, smiling serenely and looking pretty even though they were both incredibly bored.

After the break, Nessa and Saraphina were called in front of the jury panel again and each judge said something nice about them both while the vote slips were being counted. The two show hosts also went up to the first row of the audience to ask some of the already eliminated girls for their opinion on who should be the winner. Throughout all of this, Elphaba still kept an eye out for anything suspicious, but she found nothing – unless Macy looking grumpy about the fact that she was in front of the stage, rather than on it, counted as something suspicious, but Elphaba didn't think it did.

After that, at last, the music turned ominous, the lights dimmed, and Reven and Cashel were each handed a flash card with the name of the winner on it. Two spotlights were aimed at Saraphina and Nessarose.

"The winner," said Reven, nearly squealing with excitement, "of this year's _Miss Emerald_ competition, and thus the girl who has earned the title of Miss Emerald, is…"

Nessa looked over at her sister, a few metres away on the couch. Elphaba smiled encouragingly at her and gave her a thumbs-up. Nessa smiled back, even though the green girl could tell her little sister was nervous.

Cashel finally shouted, "…Miss Nessarose Thropp!"

Instantly, fireworks went off all around them, sending sparks up into the air even as shimmering, gold confetti came raining down. Nessa was crying as Reven draped a sash around the girl and Cashel placed the tiara on top of her head. The applause and cheers were deafening and Nessa could only smile, more widely than Elphaba had ever seen, and mouth, "Thank you" at the people around her. Elphaba applauded enthusiastically, cheering for her sister. She was a little blinded by all the lights and slightly deafened by the noise, plus her attention was on her sister, so she almost missed it.

Almost.

It was only because she was sitting a little to the side of the stage, almost exactly underneath the lights, that she heard the creaking noise from above, barely audible over the screams, cheers, and music. It felt like the world around her slowed down as she looked up, at the light bridge above them. There was one of the light technicians and for a moment, she felt reassured – if there was a problem, he was probably already working on it. However, the nagging feeling she'd had all this time increased, her skin pricking with it as it sent shivers down her spine. Something was wrong.

And then, to her utter horror, she watched as the light technician pushed one of the heavy lights over the bridge railing. She was already screaming a warning before her eyes even found the spot on the stage below where the light would hit in about two clock-ticks. The spot where Nessa, tiara on her head and flowers in her arms, sat beaming and smiling widely in her chair.

Without thinking, Elphaba pushed herself and her heavy gown away from the couch, launching herself at her sister. She hit Nessa with such force that the younger girl toppled over, chair and all. The last thing Elphaba saw was the light falling down from right above her; then the world exploded in light.


	23. Raise You High

**It took a while, but _Fairest of Them All_ is finally finished! This is the final chapter, but no worries, it's a long one. Thanks all again for reading and reviewing, it's been a pleasure as always!**

* * *

 **23\. Raise You High**

She couldn't have survived. Could she?

She had to.

Fiyero didn't think he'd ever been so scared and shocked in his entire life.

No-one had realised what was happening. Not until Elphaba had moved, and even then, it had looked like a low, jealous move on her part – attacking the winner because she couldn't bear not winning the crown herself. Of course, he and the others knew she would never do that, but it had definitely been what it looked like to people who didn't know her very well.

And then the light had fallen. It would have crushed Nessa if Elphaba hadn't seen it. Now all they could do was pray it hadn't crushed Elphaba instead.

He was pushing his way forward through the panicking crowd. The cameras were turned off, people were urged to stay seated, and other people were running onto the stage. Nessa was helped back up and into her chair, people swarming around her to check on her, but she was sobbing and crying for her sister. Nathalinia and Saraphina, utterly shocked, were both crying even as an equally shaken Reven tried to usher them backstage.

Fiyero heard Oscar bellowing commands at his guards, heard Dr Dillamond talking to the other man, and sensed Boq and Chistery making their way to the stage not far behind, but his entire focus was on the heap of magenta fabric on the stage. When he saw it move, he felt like he might quite literally topple over with relief. He didn't, of course. Instead he kept moving, elbowing people aside and starting to run when the way was clear.

He reached the stage and dropped down on his knees beside the heap of poufy gown. Other people were trying to get to her – security guards, Cashel, Oscar's guards – and some of them tried to haul Fiyero away, but he snarled at them and pushed them away roughly, trying to search out the heap of thick fabric to figure out how badly Elphaba had been hurt. The guards soon gave up and instead focused their efforts on lifting the light off the green girl.

He finally found her face. Her eyes were closed and for a clock-tick, he feared the worst; but then she groaned, moved again, and her eyelids fluttered open.

"Are you dying?" Fiyero blurted out, panic clouding his mind and his judgement. It was clouding his eyes, too… or were those tears? "Fae? Please tell me you're not dying." Something wet falling off the tip of his nose and onto that enormous ball gown of her. Yep, they were definitely tears.

"I don't think I am," she said, scrunching up her nose. She tried to sit up despite Fiyero's urgent attempts to hold her down. "Really, Yero, I'm fine."

"But the light fell on top of you!" he spluttered. "It exploded! We all saw it happen!"

She shook her head. "It didn't explode," she told him. "That was my magic."

Her magic. Waves of relief washed over him, so strongly they knocked the wind out of him. Of course. Her magic had kicked in and saved her, somehow. He looked over at the guards, who finally managed to lift the light off Elphaba, and he couldn't help but laugh a little hysterically with relief when he realised that it had never fallen on top of her; it had only fallen onto her enormous dress, trapping the fabric of her skirt beneath it. Elphaba was fine.

He gathered her up in his arms and buried his face in her hair, murmuring, "Thank Oz." She held him, too. He could feel her shaking. He couldn't even imagine how scared she must have been – both for Nessa and for herself.

As if reading his mind, she whispered, "Nessa," and he hugged her even tighter.

"She's all right," he said into her ear. "Don't worry, she's fine. You saved her life, Fae."

He finally let go of her – because she made him, not because he wanted to – and she quickly looked over at Nessa, obviously relieved when she saw for herself that her sister was all right. Nessa, in turn noticing that Elphaba was fine, started crying even harder. "Fabala!"

With Fiyero's help, Elphaba pushed herself to her feet and, swatting away the helpful hands extended to her and ignoring everyone's well-meant advice to stay down until the medics got here, she went over to her sister and hugged her tightly. "I'm fine, Nessie. Are you?"

Nessa nodded, unable to speak, and the two sisters held one another for a long time. Boq, who had reached Nessa a little earlier, looked on, also relieved.

Galinda, Fiyero saw now, was being held back by security guards, but there were tear streaks on her face and she looked absolutely frantic, even though Chistery was beside her and trying to calm her down. Fiyero called for the guards to let them through and Galinda ran onto the stage, instantly going for the Thropp sisters and throwing her arms around them both.

Dillamond, Oscar, and Chistery reached the stage as well, all of them appearing pale and shaken, and medics came streaming in. Elphaba told Oscar's guards about the light technician and they soon managed to catch the guy, who started shouting that Macy had made him do it. The both of them were taken away for questioning while Elphaba and Nessa were checked over by the medics. They were deemed fine, but Fiyero still couldn't help but worry.

"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked Elphaba, concern clouding his usually so bright blue eyes. She didn't quite _look_ all right; her dress was torn and covered in dust, she was pale, and the pretty combs she'd been wearing in her long hair had fallen out, leaving the ebony tresses a tangled mess.

Part of her was annoyed by the question but, recognising he was genuinely worried about her, she reassuringly cupped his face and met his gaze. "I'm fine, Yero," she promised him, planting a kiss on his nose. "Really. Don't worry about me."

He nodded, the relief obvious in his face. "Okay."

She kissed him again, on the lips this time, and he took her hand when she pulled away again. He followed her over to the group of guards, who were taking Nessa's statement. Some of them turned to Elphaba when she approached and she told them what she'd seen, but also what she'd heard from Macy in the weeks before.

Things were a little crazy for the next hour or so as some people were questioned and others reassured and urged to leave the theatre. By the time Elphaba, Nessa, Galinda, Fiyero, Boq, Oscar, Chistery, and Dillamond could finally leave, it was quite late and the dark-haired witch was feeling exhausted now that the adrenaline had left her. After they filed into a couple of carriages that would take them back to the Emerald Palace, she laid her head against Fiyero's shoulder and drifted off within clock-ticks. She didn't wake up at all, not even once they'd reached their destination and Fiyero gently picked her up into his arms and carried her inside. The prince worried a little about that, but when he did try to wake her, she roused easily, which assured him that at least she didn't have a concussion.

"Yero?" she asked sleepily. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, smiling a little weakly at her. "Just checking you're okay."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm fine. I told you. Just tired. Doing magic takes a lot out of me," she reminded him. "Will you let me sleep now?"

"Only if you change out of that dress first," he said.

She looked down at herself and made a face. "Right."

They let her sleep in the next day, figuring she needed it, but Fiyero was still relieved when she eventually emerged, still in her nightwear, still looking drowsy and with her hair all tousled. When she sat down next to him, he silently pushed a full cup of coffee in her direction, earning himself a grateful smile.

Oscar came in not long thereafter, announcing he had news, and that seemed to wake her up – at least she sat up a little straighter.

"Well," he began, sitting down at the head of the table. "Macy and the light technician have been questioned. It was surprisingly easy to get everything out of them, really." He accepted the cup of coffee one of the maids poured him and took a sip. "The light guy turns out to be Macy's secret boyfriend," he continued to explain. "She wanted nothing more than to win the _Miss Emerald_ competition and he wanted to help her do it. During the finale, the boyfriend would be up on the bridge above the stage to manipulate the lights there; and if Macy didn't win the competition, the boyfriend was supposed to drop one of the heavy lights onto the girl who _did_ win from above."

Nessa gasped. Glinda shuddered. Elphaba actually felt a little nauseous. She couldn't believe anyone would go that far to win an Oz-forsaken _beauty pageant_.

"I feel like I seriously underestimated the lengths some girls would go to in order to be declared the most beautiful of all," she muttered. Some of the others nodded in agreement.

Oscar cleared his throat. " _I_ feel like we should have listened to you," he said gravely to his daughter, "and taken your gut feeling more seriously."

She waved him away, however. "I wouldn't have taken it seriously, either, if I hadn't been the one feeling it," she said. "It was based on nothing."

"Still," Chistery chimed in. "It was right. Maybe it's linked to your visions and prophecy magical powers, or something."

"In any case, next time you feel that way, let us know and we'll listen," Oscar promised and she chuckled.

"Sure. I will."

"Did their plan have anything whatsoever to do with Madame Morrible or was that just a scary coincidence?" Glinda asked.

"The latter," replied Oscar. He looked a little sheepish. "We knew about Morrible. As I told you before, my security department figured that one out relatively easily and because we knew her plans and when best to strike, I suppose we let down our guard a little. No-one expects _two_ attacks during the same event. Maybe we should have, though."

Chistery shrugged. "You couldn't have known."

"I agree," said Doctor Dillamond. "You did your best, as did Miss Elphaba, and it has all turned out all right, hasn't it?"

Oscar assured them that Macy and her boyfriend, as well as Madame Morrible, would be punished for what they'd done. He excused himself then, having some important things to attend to what with everything that had happened.

"Dad?" Elphaba called, going after him. "Before you go, we should say good-bye. We'll be leaving back for Shiz in an hour or so."

"Oh. Yes, of course." Oscar smiled a little wanly, taking in his daughter. Then he held out his arms and, much to his surprise, she actually stepped into them and embraced him.

"I still don't entirely agree with your methods," she said into his ear. "But I do understand that you did what you thought was best, that you were trying to help me, and I appreciate that. I'm not really used to people doing that for me, so thank you."

His smile was real now. "Oh, Elphaba." He hugged her a little tighter and then let go, holding her at a slight distance so he could take her in. He shook his head. "You've done wonderfully," he told her. "I'm very proud of you. I hope you know that. I told you, some time ago, that I'd always longed to be a father… but I'm especially glad to be yours."

She smirked a little. "That wasn't sappy at all," she teased him and he flushed a little, but didn't budge.

"Well, I mean it."

In a bout of sentimentality, she hugged him again. "Thanks, Dad. Despite everything that happened, I guess I'm glad you're my father, too."

His eyebrows rose. "You guess?"

She shrugged. "I don't have much to go on," she reminded him. "You're certainly doing better than Frex, but honestly, _everyone_ could probably do better than Frex."

Oscar laughed and shook his head. "You're right about that, at least. Well… I hope we can grow a little closer from now on, Elphaba," he said, suddenly serious again. "I'd like to have a proper father-daughter relationship with you."

"I'd like that, too," she admitted and he smiled again.

"Have a safe trip," he said.

She kissed his cheek quickly, then turned and left.

* * *

Elphaba knew, of course, that most of Shiz University had probably seen the _Miss Emerald_ finale and how wrong it had gone. She also knew, having heard so from Oscar, that there had been a second broadcast later the same night in which Reven and Cashel had assured the public that everyone was fine and explained what had happened, exactly, on a popular talk show. Nessa, as the winner, had been told that she would be contacted back at Shiz later that weekend, but on that night, it had been deemed safest for her to simply leave with everyone else and go home – at least until it was discovered what had happened.

They were prepared, therefore, to be swarmed by their fellow classmates demanding information on what had happened. What they had not been prepared for was the sight that greeted them once they exited the carriage.

The moment they arrived, it was like a buzz went through the student body. A hush fell over them all and they just stared for a little while. Then some of them ran off and the others started cheering and chanting their names.

"Miss Nessarose!" a first-year girl cried, running up to the girl in the wheelchair. "Would you sign my notebook?"

"And mine!" the girl's friend added excitedly.

Nessa was completely bewildered. "Um… sure," she said, quickly scribbling an autograph on the notebooks. The girls beamed and thanked her, but more were already on their way – and they were not just looking for Nessa's autograph, either. Elphaba's jaw quite literally dropped when one of them shyly asked for _her_ autograph as well and even Glinda was handing hers out, looking radiant with happiness as she did so.

The students who had gone running earlier returned now, carrying banners saying _Congratulotions Nessarose_ and, much to Elphaba's surprise and horror, _Long Live Princess Elphaba_. Most of the boys didn't seem to care much, although they happily cheered along. The girls, however, all seemed in various states of envy or admiration and they all wanted to chat to the girls. What had it been like on that stage? Was it scary being in front of cameras? Was Nessa happy to have won? How had Elphaba known her sister was in danger? Some of them even just came to tell Nessa they agreed that she was the deserved winner and to congratulate her, or to tell the green girl that she'd been 'awesome', saving Nessa's life like that.

In short, it was overwhelming to say the least and Elphaba was glad when she and Glinda reached their dorm room. Then, however, it felt weird again.

"It's over now," Glinda said miserably, sitting on the edge of her fluffy pink bed and kicking her legs back and forth. "Isn't that weird? Nessa won, you've turned into some kind of hero, and the day after tomorrow we'll be back doing homework and listening to professors in class."

By that time Elphaba was already sitting at her desk again, working on an assignment, and she glanced at her roommate over her glasses. "Hmm?" she asked distractedly.

Glinda rolled her eyes. "Or, if you're Elphie, you get back to doing homework right away," she muttered, heaving a sigh. "For Oz's sake, Elphaba."

Elphaba shrugged. "It's the best way to get back into my normal rhythm," she said, but Glinda just scowled at her.

"You're not supposed to get back into your normal rhythm right away! You're supposed to enjoy the aftermath of nearly –"

"Getting killed by a stage light?"

"Becoming Miss Emerald!" Glinda corrected her hotly.

Elphaba sighed, shaking her head. "Glin, I've never cared that much for it all," she said patiently. "You know that. It's been sort of fun, I guess. I'm proud of Nessa for winning and I'm happy for her. I like that Oscar and I might have a better relationship now than before because of this competition and I like the way it has brought us all closer, but now it's over and I'd like to get my old life back."

"You're not going to get your old life back," Glinda said knowingly. "You're known to the people now. They've seen their princess at her very best. You'll be swarmed by press for the rest of your life, Elphie."

Elphaba snorted. "Of course I will be."

'Swarmed' was a slight exaggeration, as it turned out; but there were indeed enough reporters wanting to talk to Elphaba about her participation in the competition, how she'd saved Nessa's life, and what her plans were as the future princess of Oz. They left the young witch completely flustered, since she had no idea what to answer to any of their questions. She didn't even know if she wanted to be a princess at all, let alone what she'd want to do if she did decide to become one.

When she wrote to Oscar about this, however, he reassured her that he would give her all the time she needed to make that decision and that he wouldn't blame her if she decided not to take up her role as princess of Oz. He also added, though, that she'd be able to do great things and make changes if she did choose to do it.

"It's not fair," she complained to Fiyero one night later that week as they were both sprawled on her bed, Elphaba with her head on Fiyero's stomach. "He's guilt-tripping me."

The prince was concentrating on making lots of tiny braids in Elphaba's long hair. "You shouldn't look at it that way, Fae. It's true, after all, what he says."

"It is," she admitted, staring up at the ceiling. "Do you think I could do it? Be the princess, I mean?"

He snorted. "What kind of question is that? Of course I think you could do it. I can't think of anyone who would be better for the job."

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "What if… and I'm really only speculating here," she stressed. "No plans or anything in that direction. Not even the assumption that there might be plans in that direction at all. It's just… if I'm the princess, and you're the prince of the Vinkus, and suppose we may or may not want to… you know… get married, or something… one day…"

She didn't even have to look at Fiyero's face to know that he was grinning like an idiot and she hit him in the chest. "Don't do that."

"I wasn't doing anything!" he protested, but he was still grinning. "And to answer your question, it's perfectly possible," he assured her, continuing to run his fingers through her hair lazily, playing with the braids he'd made. "It'd be a politically savvy marriage, even, securing the position of the Vinkus in Oz. A lot of people would be quite happy with such a match." His grin widened. "Including me, albeit for different reasons."

She scowled at him, but he just looked back at her until she had to look away. She'd thought he was joking, but she could tell from the look in his eyes that he had been serious.

"Maybe I could," she said again, slowly, actually considering the idea now. "Couldn't I?"

"You definitely could." Fiyero turned his head and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Just think about it. Oscar said you don't have to decide anytime soon. You know, finish school, see how your new-found fame works out. If you really hate it, you can still back out. I know how much you hate being the centre of attention and that's what you would be as the princess, after all."

"True." She was still thinking about it, though. She'd be able to actually change things in Oz. To make good. Wasn't that what she'd wanted for a long time already? "I'll give it some more thought, then."

He nodded. They were quiet for a while before he asked, "Where's Glinda, anyway?"

"Off to help Nessa give that interview," said Elphaba. Nessarose had been called upon by the _Miss Emerald_ crew a few days ago and asked if she could be interviewed later; having been declared the winner but having had her moment in the spotlights ruined, they wanted to give her that moment now. She'd gone shopping with Glinda the day before for the occasion.

Fiyero smiled. "So everything's working out then, isn't it? You and Oscar, Nessa winning the competition… even Glinda is happy with her spot and all the attention she gets. The threats have been averted, the culprits caught – thanks to you – and everyone is healthy and happy and alive…"

She rolled her eyes at him, but he ignored her as he went on.

"…and you and I are together now, and we'll be together forever and get married and have pretty little princes and princesses…"

"One more word from you and you're not siring any princes or princesses with anyone, _ever_."

He wisely shut up, which made her chortle. She raised her head to kiss him and then snuggled back up against him.

Despite all the cheesiness, he was right. Everything had somehow worked out and although she was sure something would come up again sooner or later – after all, she wasn't a walking commotion for nothing – the events of the past few months had at the very least convinced her that whatever life would throw at her now, she could take it. Between Glinda, Nessa, Fiyero, Boq, Oscar, Chistery, and Dr Dillamond, she had a wonderful group of friends and family to support her – something she'd never had before, but that she didn't want to lose now that she had it.

Once upon a time, not even that long ago, she'd longed to meet the Wizard in order to be able to make a change in Oz, yes, and to help the Animals; but also to be recognised for her talents, rather than her faults, and to not be lonely anymore. That meeting obviously hadn't turned out the way she'd thought it would, but she marvelled at how, somehow, she'd still managed to achieve her goal. The Animals were saved, she could change Oz for the better, and she wasn't alone anymore.

"Half of Oz's favourite team," she whispered to herself, smiling a little at the way everything seemed to have come full-circle.

Fiyero turned his head to look at her. "Hmm?"

"Nothing." Her smile widened and she looked up at the ceiling, but her mind was far away, thinking up new laws and ways to make Oz prosper. "Just trying to imagine myself as a princess, is all. Maybe… maybe you're right. Maybe I really could do it."

And even if she couldn't, at least she could try. Her whole life was still in front of her. There were so many choices she could make, so many things she could do… it was overwhelming, but at the same time she knew she didn't have to decide anything right away. She had time. And maybe she could do even the things she never thought she'd be able to pull off. After all, in Elphaba's mind, running a country wasn't half as scary as running for the title of Miss Emerald. With so many wonderful people to help her, she decided, nothing was impossible.

* * *

 **I'm going on holiday (again) tomorrow for two weeks, so updates probably won't be regular. However, I have almost finished writing my next fic, _To Protect and Serve_ , which is inspired by _The Bodyguard_ , and I'll probably post the first chapter of that one later this week. I hope you'll all be reading again! Thank you once more and hopefully until soon! *waves***


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